Secrets and Shadows
by Jaenelle Angelline
Summary: Ororo befriends an abused student at the school. FINISHED. If you liked it, please review! Thanks!
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1: The New Student

                Ororo paused, and the small cloud over the ivy obediently stopped raining as her attention was diverted elsewhere. Below her, on the drive below her attic window, a sleek black limousine had pulled up in front of the doors to the mansion.

                A smartly dressed, stiffly starched chauffeur stepped out of the front of the limo, sprang around to the side, and pulled open the door with a snappy salute. A man got out. He was tall, dark-haired, and Ororo would have called him handsome if he wasn't dressed with such ostentatious gaudiness. There was more money in his clothing than taste. She shook her head.

                The woman now climbing out of the limo was dressed with the same lack of taste. Her suit was an eye-blinding fluorescent pink, and she was wrapped in a white fur coat. A fur! Ororo didn't like fur, as a rule; she disliked the idea of killing animals for fur. And fur now, in July, was in excessively bad taste. She shook her head. What were these people doing here?

                The woman turned back to the car, bent over, and said something to someone inside the car. She paused, and then said something else, this time accompanying it with some excitable gestures that clearly meant, 'get out here'. Then she turned to the man and said something. He bent over and spoke sharply to whoever was inside the car, and finally the person inside got out slowly.

                Ororo blinked. A teenaged girl, maybe sixteen or seventeen, wearing a severely-cut black tailored suit and heels stepped out of the back of the car. Ah, that explained the presence of the couple, then. The girl was obviously here as a new student. Ororo stifled her curiosity and returned to watering her plants. She would meet the parents and the student later.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Alexandra Sanderson stepped out of her parents' limo and took a quick look at the building, feigning carelessness. The heavy gates at the front of the mansion's grounds had made her uneasy. Why did they need such heavy gates at a school? She'd slouched back in the seat of the car, scowling and ignoring her mother's command to get out of the car until her father backed her mother up with the demand, "Young lady, get out of the car this minute or we're turning around and going home!"

                "Fine!" she snapped back at him. "I just want to go home anyway!" But she climbed reluctantly out of the car, dragging her small overnight case with her.

                The mansion's impressive façade rose before her. She drew a breath at the beauty of the old place. The mansion exuded dignity, grace, old wealth, and an odd nobility. She wondered if the owner of the place would look like his house.

                Then she shook her head. She was being silly. If the owners of the house were still living they wouldn't voluntarily be surrounding themselves with a bunch of bratty teenagers like her. No, likely the mansion had been donated to make a school for 'gifted youngsters'. She snorted to herself as Gary, the Sandersons' chauffeur, got her other three bags out of the back of the car. She'd tried to limit her packing down to one bag because she hated the clothes her parents bought her, but the housekeeper, Mrs. Ferrette, had packed everything Andi's parents had told her to pack for their daughter. Andi had just had enough time to slip her small hoard of money, her diary, and a plastic bag with her most precious possessions in it into the case after her mother had looked into it. She'd clutched the case to her all the way here, worried that her mother would demand a last minute inspection of her baggage. If she found Andi's secret bag, all hell would break loose, because there was no way she'd let Andi keep the things.

                She followed her mother and father up the front steps, and her father pressed the bell impatiently. When no answer was immediately forthcoming, he checked his watch impatiently. "Come on, we haven't got all day." He pressed the bell again.

                Andi listened, and inside, she heard the mellow chime of the doorbell. It was a musical one, and it played the opening bars of  'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring'. It was a piece she had learned to play on her piano and her violin flawlessly because she liked it, and not because her parents had made her learn it so she could play for their guests and company. It said some interesting things about the person who had chosen that doorbell, and the song behind it. She wished more than ever that she had the opportunity to meet the person.

                A young man with handsomely chiseled features and brown hair opened the door. Andi's father swept past him into the grand foyer and said, "Professor Charles Xavier is expecting us."

                "Please come this way, sir," the young man said with more courtesy than Andi's father had shown him. He led the way down the hallway.

                Andi stared openly at the fine décor, furniture, and at the beautiful crystal chandelier hanging from the cathedral ceiling in the foyer as she passed under it. She noticed her mother looking rather enviously at it too, and smiled to herself in enjoyment of her mother's discomfiture. Her mother noticed. "Don't stare, Alexandra. It's not polite."

                "What about you?" she shot back, and none too quietly either. For just a moment their guide's even footsteps faltered. Andi wondered if that was a chuckle that had shaken his shoulders. Then the man opened a heavy, paneled wooden door, and showed them inside.

                A man sat behind the desk. Andi studied him curiously. He was bald, with many wrinkles on his face. Andi noticed they were the wrinkles that developed from much smiling rather than age. He looked to be about sixty, like her Grandfather before he'd died, but this man exuded an air of such nobility, dignity, and energy that he seemed much younger. He smiled warmly at her parents, then herself. She found herself wanting to smile back, but instead fixed her eyes to the carpet and stood silently by the heavy cherrywood bookshelf that lined the wall of the office closest to the door.

                "Hello, Mr. And Mrs. Sanderson. Hello, Alexandra. I'm Charles Xavier. Welcome to my school, and my home. Please, have a seat."

                Alexandra's jaw almost dropped open. This man was both the owner and headmaster of the school? She wasn't expecting that. Then she blinked in disgust at herself. In her shock, she hadn't thought to grab a chair. There were only two chairs in the office, and her parents were firmly ensconced in both of them. She would have to stand, then. She shifted her feet, subtly altering her posture so that she could shift her weight onto her right foot. Her left foot, thanks to the uncomfortable shoes, was developing a blister.

                "I'm sorry, I don't have enough chairs," the man said, his voice unexpectedly mellow and pleasant. "Please excuse me while I have another chair brought in--"

                "Oh, don't bother," Chelsea Sanderson said airily. "Robert and I won't be here long. His private jet is waiting for us at the airport; we have to leave soon if we want to make the corporate party in San Francisco tonight at ten." She flashed a smile that was supposed to be charming at Xavier, but to Andi's eyes it looked false. 

                Xavier looked caught off-balance, but he recovered quickly. "Well, your rooms are ready, nonetheless," he said politely. "I assume you'll be back here tomorrow, then?"

                Andi's eyes narrowed in puzzlement. Why would her parents need rooms here?

                "Oh, no," Robert Sanderson said quickly. "That's not necessary. You see, we had planned to do some shopping in San Francisco, attend the opening of the opera there on Friday, and then we need to catch a flight to Europe so I can check on my European headquarters. We won't be back in the States until mid-September."

                Xavier blinked. "I'm sorry. I was unaware you had prior plans. I had rooms readied for you, as I do for all the parents of my students, so that you could spend a couple days here examining the facilities and meeting the faculty. Most of my students' parents and guardians choose to do this, and I assumed that was why you arrived here six weeks before the beginning of the autumn term." He steepled his fingers before him. "I read Alexandra's transcripts from her previous schools, and I have every faith in her ability to catch up on the few weeks' work she will miss while she accompanies you to Europe," he said. "In fact, travel might be a good idea, giving her a chance to relax before beginning the course work you have selected for her to begin this fall."

"What an idea!" Chelsea laughed. "Taking Alexandra to Europe with us! You must not travel often, Mr. Xavier. It's quite awful trying to drag all of our luggage all over Europe, and you propose we should bring a child with us? No, we decided to drop her off here early to avoid having to drag her halfway around the world!" She was still chuckling as she opened her tiny handbag and took out a piece of paper. "Here is Alexandra's schedule until classes start. You must be sure she wakes up at six o'clock every morning; she is lazy, and is apt to sleep late, but I'm sure your housekeeper can awaken her. Her breakfast is to be promptly at nine every morning. She tends to take forever eating, so her mealtimes is to be limited to half an hour; afterward, she is to practice on the piano until eleven-thirty. She has a half hour of free time before she is to eat lunch at twelve; then from twelve thirty until two-thirty she is to practice her violin.

"From two-thirty until five she is to be working on her studies. We have set her exercises in various subjects for her to complete, and she is expected to have completed them by the time we return here for a visit at the end of September. Her dinner is to be from five until five-thirty; afterward she has a half an hour of free time before she resumes her studies at six. There is to be two hours of study from six to eight; and then she has an hour of free time until her bedtime at nine." She handed the paper to Xavier, and said, "Alexandra has a copy of the schedule. She knows what is expected of her, and I expect that your staff will ensure that she follows the schedule. Is there anything else, Mr. Xavier?"

Xavier's smile had become rather fixed as he listened to Mrs. Sanderson recite Alexandra's schedule. Andi wondered if he thought the schedule as ridiculous as she did. "No, Mrs. Sanderson, I believe that will be all."

"One moment," her husband said, and Andi cringed. Now her father was going to get her in trouble. She knew that tone of voice. "You must be sure Andi is under supervision at all times. She is my daughter, but I have never made excuses for her behavior as other parents seem to do. She is willful, stubborn, and a troublemaker. You have no doubt read from the transcripts that she has been expelled from two other schools for disruptive behavior and excessive aggression. Should she cause trouble here, let us know. She has just come from a juvenile mutant correctional facility, where we hope she has learned the error of her ways, but if she should cause trouble here we will remove her immediately. And don't allow her to tell you she cannot control it; she is perfectly capable of controlling her…unfortunate abilities."

Xavier's smile was warm and sympathetic as he turned to Andi. "Alexandra, what are your particular gifts?" he asked her.

Andi opened her mouth to answer, but her mother beat her to it. "Gifts? More like curses. I can't believe we were cursed with a child who hears voices in her head. I'm still not sure she's not crazy."

"It's not voices, Mother," Andi said sharply. "More like feelings, or impressions."

"Don't contradict me, young lady," her mother said sharply. "How we were burdened with a child like you I'll never understand. It's quite bad enough that you're such a terrible child; and to be cursed with defective mutant genes, too! I suppose it comes from your Uncle Mike. My brother always was a disruptive influence. I suppose you got it from him by contamination."

Xavier said firmly, his smile gone, "The mutant gene is passed on by the male, Mrs. Sanderson, but the female must also carry the gene in order for it to become an active one in the child. It is not Alexandra's fault, nor is it your brother's. There is no way to 'contaminate' a normal person with the mutant gene. It does not work that way." 

"So it's your fault!" Chelsea stood up with Robert and swung her ridiculously tiny purse at him. "I thought it was! I never liked your father!"

Robert said hurriedly, "Mr. Xavier, thank you for taking Alexandra off our hands for the next month or so. We appreciate you taking her in early. Is there anything else?"

Xavier said quietly, "Have you made arrangements with your bank for her allowance?"

Chelsea looked blankly at him. Andi stared too.

Xavier explained. "A weekly trip is arranged for our students, chaperoned of course, to the local mall, to purchase any small things they may want."

Chelsea laughed. "What an idea! That's a silly extravagance!"

"It is not, I assure you," Xavier said. "Our mathematics teacher believes that it teaches the students the value of money, and how to spend it wisely, as well as how to budget. As it gets closer to the holidays, we do have parties for the students so that they can exchange gifts with their friends."

Robert said quickly, "No parties. Not for Alexandra. Too many people tend to make her become disruptive. We expect her to follow her schedule, without deviance, every day she does not have classes. And when the term does begin, we do expect her to continue her music practice and independent studies in addition to her regular classes."

Xavier said quietly, "I see. Mr. Sanderson, may I ask you a question?"

"Certainly." 

"When does Alexandra have time simply to be herself, to be a child? Childhood is so fleeting, Mr. Sanderson, as I'm sure you have felt on any number of occasions. When is she allowed simply to do what she wants to do, when does she have time to be herself?"

He was clearly uncomfortable with the question. "She has a total of five hours a day to do what she likes; that is sufficient. Her psychiatrist is of the opinion that too much free time on her hands and an uncertain schedule is to blame for her uncontrollable behavior previously; and this was proved to be true once she was subjected to the set schedules of the juvenile facility we placed her in after she was expelled from her last school." 

"I see." Xavier said again. "If that is all, Mr. Sanderson, I'm sure you have much better things to do than stand here all day wasting your valuable time discussing a child you consider a burden. Good day." And to Andi's surprise the door opened and the man was standing in the doorway, clearly waiting for her parents to leave so he could show them out. 

His sarcasm was completely lost on her parents. They were glad to leave. Without a backward glance or a goodbye to Andi, standing silently by the large bookshelf, they followed the young man out. Xavier sat silently for a moment as the door closed, looking at the schedule in his hand, but Andi suspected he wasn't really seeing it; he was thinking of something else. 


	2. A New School

Chapter 2: New School

                He looked up, finally, and smiled at Andi. A real smile, not the pasted-on smile he had put on for her parents. "Please sit down," he said, gesturing to the chair her mother had vacated. "And feel free to remove those shoes. Looking at them is making my feet hurt, and that blister certainly isn't getting any better with you standing on it."

                Surprised, Andi sat. Xavier reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small jar of peppermints, extracting two and offering one to Andi. She shook her head. "I'm not allowed to have candy," she said. "Mother says it will ruin my teeth."

                "Your mother and your father are on their way to the airport," he said firmly, "And what they don't know won't hurt them. I certainly won't tell."

                "You won't?" Andi couldn't believe her ears. Maybe this was all a trick. Maybe he was trying to trick her, so he could tell her parents and they could put her back in that horrible mutant kiddie jail.

                "I won't," Xavier said, smiling as gently as he could and projecting an aura of reassurance and sympathy into her mind. "Go ahead." He held the peppermint out to her.

                Andi wavered for a moment, then shook her head. She couldn't take a chance on him telling on her to her parents. He might seem sincere, but so had Dr. Hebron. And then Dr. Hebron had turned on her and sent her to that jail...she set her lips in a firm line. Better not to trust anyone. She was going to do exactly what her parents wanted her to do until she turned eighteen and she was free.

                Xavier put the peppermint on the edge of the desk. "It's there if you want it, then," he said. "Now, there are a few things I'd like to discuss with you before you go up to your room. First is this schedule." He looked at the piece of paper her mother had handed him, and his lips curved in a smile. "Are you really expected to follow this?"

                "Yes," Andi said quietly. "Dr. Hebron put me on the bed-at-nine, up-at-six schedule at the facility." 

                "And what were you expected to do during your day at the mutant jail?" He made a face at the word.

                Her sudden silence surprised him, and he looked up. She was shifting uncomfortably in her seat, and her body had suddenly become tense. He could sense her discomfort at the topic. "Would you rather we didn't discuss it?" he asked gently. She nodded, her eyes glued to the carpet.

                Xavier sighed internally. Alexandra was so withdrawn it was scary. Why had she become this defensive this young? "All right. You need not answer that question. I leave it up to you to follow the schedule or not, as you wish. And your parents shall not be told." She relaxed almost visibly, and he said, "Now, another topic. This is not normally something I would discuss with my students, but I feel that given you parents' disposition, this would be better discussed with you. The courses on your schedule seem quite advanced for someone your age.  These are courses I would expect someone to take if they were trying to prepare for a medical license exam than for someone who is in her last year of high school."

                Andi bit her lip. Her parents had made the decision on what courses she should take from the list of class offerings. She had no say in what was chosen for her, and she knew she wasn't going to be taking anything fun. However, if she changed anything on her course schedule, her parents would see the change when they saw her report card and she'd get into trouble. Her parents wanted her to become a doctor. She didn't want to. But she had to do what they said, or she'd go back to Dr. Hebron and the jail. "I'll leave my course schedule the way it is," she said, but there was an air of resignation about her that Xavier picked up on. 

He looked at the schedule. Base mathematics…good Lord, what were her parents thinking? He hadn't taken base mathematics until his second year at grad school. It was far too advanced for her. So was the course on microbiology. "I regret to inform you, however," he said smoothly, "That base mathematics and advanced microbiology are two classes that are currently full. I am going to have to change one of your course selections to an elective, as you already have sufficient science credits to fulfill the mandatory educational requirements. Do you have a preference?" She remained silent. "Very well. As you still require a physical education credit, you may choose either gymnastics or contemporary dance."

Alexandra's eyes lit up at the thought of a dance course. "Dance? You have dancing classes here?" Too late, she realized she shouldn't have blurted out, and she bit her lip and curled up in her chair. "Dance will be fine."

Xavier was amused by her sudden outburst and alarmed at her immediate iron-willed suppression of it. "And you will be enrolled in intermediate trigonometry," he said, "As a replacement for that base mathematics class. All our students at your age level take that class, and exceptions cannot be made to the rules." He put the paper down on the desk and made the appropriate corrections. "Should your parents have problems with the adjustments to your schedule, please refer them to me. Now for the next topic; do your parents give you any allowance at all?"

Andi shook her head, thinking involuntarily of the small stash of money in her bag, but no one knew she had that, so she said nothing about it.

"Well, even though your parents chose not to provide you with an independent allowance, it is still a good experience for you to have your own money and to spend it as you choose. Therefore, I'll arrange it so that you will receive a small sum about equal to what your classmates will receive each week, so that you may take care of any small wants or needs you might have." He held up a hand to forestall the words about to come from her mouth. "I can spare it from the tuition that has been paid. Your parents will not know of it unless you choose to tell them, which I really don't think you'll do."

Andi stared at him, shocked. She knew the other girls at the boarding schools she had attended in the past got at least twenty dollars a week. She had four hundred dollars in her bag, scrounged and saved over the last five years. What he was proposing to do would double her hoard in only a few months! "Thank you, sir," she stammered.

He smiled at her. "You're welcome, Alexandra. Now, I think your teachers would like to meet you."

The door to the office opened, and Andi rose from her chair in deference to their entrance. Xavier gestured to the young man who had walked her parents out to the limo. "This is Mr. Scott Summers," he said, "He teaches some of the basic math courses, but his specialty is physics." The man smiled at her and tipped a head gently in her direction.

"Oh come on, Charles," said the woman beside Mr. Summers. "We can introduce ourselves. "I'm Jean Summers, Scott's wife, and I teach psychology and biology." She had a head full of the most astonishingly pretty red hair. Andi smiled tentatively back at her.

"I am Ororo Munroe," said the tall, exotic-looking African woman beside the redhead. "I teach meterology and Earth Sciences, as well as dance and art."

"I'm Remy LeBeau," said the brown-haired man standing next in line. "I teach French and elementary physics."

"Just call me Mr. Logan, kid," said the man next in line. "I teach physical education."

And so on it went. Andi stared at them. A few of them, she could tell immediately, were definitely mutants. Mr. LeBeau, Mr. Summers, Mr. Logan, and Mr. McCoy had physical mutations that were easy to see. She wasn't sure about Miss Braddock, or Miss Munroe, but she was reasonably sure they were also.

"Now that you've met our teachers, would you like a tour of the school? It could wait until orientation, but as you're here some weeks early, you'll need at least a general idea of the layout of the school."

"Okay," Andi said shyly. "But I really should get my luggage up off your driveway before it gets wet or run over."

"Don't worry," Xavier said cheerfully. "It's all already been taken upstairs to your room. Ororo will take you around the school, since the tour will end with your room, and you'll be in her dorm wing." He smiled at her. "Please enjoy the tour."

Andi walked behind Ororo, listening to the beautiful African woman talk about the mansion and whatever else happened to be the subject of the tour at the time. Her attention was half on the tour and half on the woman conducting it. 

It was the first thing she always had done since she'd started attending boarding schools at the young age of six. She would meet the adults around her, watch them, learn what pleased them, and then tailor everything she said or did to make them happy with her. She told everyone what they wanted to hear, did what everyone wanted her to do, and made sure that whatever she did was pleasing to everyone around her.

That had lasted until she was twelve. At the age of twelve, desperate for her mother and father's attention, she discovered that when she caused trouble at the schools she was in, her mother and father were called, and they would come, and she would get to see them, however briefly. And when she caused too much trouble, and was expelled, they would take her home with them and she would get to see them every day until they found a new school to ship her off to. This cycle lasted for two years, until Andi realized that seeing them every day wasn't helping them to get to know her and love her. They didn't care enough about her to try to love her, or even pretend to. The only time she ever got to see a smile on her mother's face was when she played the piano or her violin for her mother's guests. It was why she had gotten so good at those instruments; she desperately wanted, and needed, her parents' love. She never got it.

Anger at her parents manifested itself over the next few years in her behavior. Andi started to pick fights at school, broke rules, and just generally did everything she could to make the people around her completely miserable so they would send her home. At fifteen, though, that all stopped. She had been sitting sullenly in the back of the limo listening to her parents argue and scream at each other in the front seat when a tractor trailer had overturned on the icy winter road, and trapped her and her parents inside the pinned limo. It had been hours before the police had managed to get them out. Robert had suffered a fractured arm; Chelsea a few scratches. Andi had been hit over the head by her father's laptop, and spent a week in the hospital while a skull fracture healed. But the stress and the injury had awakened her latent empathic abilities, and she had suddenly started feeling a conflicting wash of emotions. If someone around her was angry, she would throw something. If someone was sad, she would start crying, The up-and-down roller coaster of emotions overwhelmed her, and she had begged her parents to listen to her and get her help.

They had found Dr. Hebron. He claimed to be a psychiatrist skilled in the handling of childhood insanity; and his solution to her parents had been to incarcerate her in what he told her parents was a correctional facility for mutant children, but what had turned out, instead, to be an asylum for mentally unstable children, both mutant and human. Andi did her best to block out the memory of her year in the asylum, and did everything she could to become the perfect child again. She stopped being aggressive, buried all her own thoughts and feelings behind a sweet, simple smile, did everything she was told to do, and finally her parents had decided she could attend school again. The army of private tutors that they had hired to teach her were sent away, and they had found for her this school in New York for gifted children. Andi was determined to keep her head down, keep her nose clean, and do what was expected of her until she turned eighteen and she could run away from it all. She often fantasized about finding a deserted island somewhere in the middle of the ocean, where she could play her music and feel her own feelings without first having to stop and sort her own from everyone else's feelings.

"And here is your room," Ororo Munroe opened the door to a small room. It was larger than her room at home, but that was because there were two beds in it. The right side of the room was a mirror of the other side; a twin-sized bed, a chair, a small student desk, a small dresser, and wastebasket. A laundry bag swung from a hook on the closet door. "There are no other students here at the moment, so it is all yours, as is the bathroom. However, be warned; once your roommate is assigned, you will need to share the space with her, so do not get too comfortable. 

"It is summer, so we do not keep regular hours or a set schedule. We usually have breakfast around eight or so, and lunch around noon. Dinner is usually at six." She stopped at the look on Alexandra's face. "Why, what is wrong, child?"

Alexandra was so shocked her words came out in a stutter. "M-m-my parents have a set schedule for me. I'm supposed to eat at nine, twelve, and five. How am I supposed to follow the schedule if I have only a half hour to cook and eat?"

Ororo blinked. "Charles said nothing about a schedule. Please tell me about it." She was silent as Andi ran through her schedule, from the up-at-six to the bedtime-at-nine, and she sighed. "Please excuse my saying so, but Alexandra, you cannot possibly do that here. We don't have a housekeeper. When the school term begins, there will be a wake-up bell at eight, breakfast at nine, and lessons begin at ten in the morning and end at five in the afternoon. Lunch is served from twelve-thirty until one-thirty, and dinner is served at six. Everyone is to be in bed by ten, but from seven until ten the house will be swarming with children. We try to limit the amount of homework given to an hour a night."

Andi blinked. No schedule? Her parents would be furious! But would they be angry enough to send her back to Dr. Hebron? "I suppose I could give it a try," she said.

"It is summer," Ororo said as she turned on the light in the room and wrote Andi's name on the top blank of the door in washable marker. "Don't worry about schedules in summer. Enjoy yourself." She closed the door behind her, leaving Andi to her own thoughts. 


	3. A New Schedule

Chapter 3: A New Schedule

                Andi woke slowly. 

                It was light in her room. Why was it light in her room? It was never this bright at six in the morning. She opened her eyes, turned over, and stared at the bedside clock she'd plugged in the previous night.

                Eight o'clock!

                She sprang out of bed. She was supposed to be up at six! Her morning jog of an hour would have to be skipped today.  She slipped into the bathroom for her shower, thinking furiously. She was sure she'd set the alarm the night before, so why hadn't it gone off and woken her up? 

                She was supposed to start eating at nine, so she'd have to hurry if she was supposed to cook herself breakfast and eat before she started practicing. And she still had to find out where the piano was in this house! Her parents had asked if the mansion had one, and had been told that it did. But Andi couldn't remember seeing it during her tour of the school. And she really didn't want to go and ask the dorm mistress Miss Munroe where it might be.

                Thinking about Miss Munroe made her stop in her tracks. The lady had said that she didn't need to worry about her parents' schedule, that she didn't need to worry about any schedules at all until the school term actually started. Andi thought it was tempting. Not to have to worry about anything, to be able to sleep late, go to bed whenever she wanted to, and most of all, free time to explore that fascinating library. Maybe she shouldn't worry…

                Then the reality of her life set in. Dr. Hebron had told her to set aside her parents' schedule while she was staying with him. Then when she had, he had let her get away with it for a few days and then punished her for it. It was better not to risk it again. She couldn't afford having them tell her parents, or they'd put her back in that asylum.

                She scrambled into the tailored pants and starched white shirt that was her only outfit. Her parents had focused on Dr. Hebron's instructions to provide her a rigid schedule to such a degree that they had even bought her the same clothes all the time. Her uniform. She didn't have anything else to wear.

                She was already perspiring as she ran down the stairs. Halfway there she stopped. What if they had cameras hidden around here somewhere to record her movements? Her room at the asylum had cameras hidden all over the place; she had never figured out where all of them were. If she was caught running they'd probably tell her parents. She took a deep breath, stilled her pounding heart and breathing, then walked calmly into the kitchen. And stopped short.

                Three of her teachers were already seated in the kitchen; Miss Munroe, Mrs. Summers, and Mr. LeBeau.  Miss Munroe was wearing a long white nightgown and a white satin robe over it; Mrs. Summers was wearing a baggy, oversized T-shirt and skin-tight biker shorts that showed so much leg Andi was hearing her mother's voice ringing in her head screaming "Indecent!" And Mr. LeBeau…he was wearing a pair of shorts. That was it. Period. Andi's face turned bright pink as she saw the well-defined muscles, smooth chest with only a thin dusting of hair across it, and black shorts that she was positive were swimming shorts.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Jean heard the new girl come racing halfway down the stairs, and pause. The nervousness level went up even higher than it already was, and Jean decided she was going to have a chat with Charles, quite soon. There was no reason for her to be this nervous. If she was wound any tighter she was going to snap, and that didn't bode well for the long school year ahead. There had to be a way to loosen the child up a bit. Jean tried probing Alexandra's surface thoughts, to find out why she was so apprehensive, and found herself almost drowning in the music that thundered through the girl's head. She nearly dropped her coffee cup. The music was like a barrier between Alexandra's mind and the rest of the world; it was like the girl was using the music as a shield. It was the oddest way of shielding that Jean had ever come across; but she kept her face carefully pleasant and open as she turned to the child in the door. And what she saw startled her as much as her appearance was startling Alexandra.

                She was dressed formally in a starched white shirt and black tailored pants. There were heeled loafers on her feet, immaculately polished. Her hair, though still damp, was elaborately done, and her makeup, what little of it there was, was perfect. Her nervousness level, however, was skyrocketing, and Jean decided that she'd better say something to put the girl at ease. "Good morning," she said cheerfully, telekinetically pulling a chair out from the table for Alexandra. "Did you sleep well?"

                Alexandra stayed standing. Ororo looked at the uniform, looked at the girl, and said, "Alexandra, I believe I told you last night that your schedule would be impossible here. It is summer, child, enjoy yourself! Just because you are at school does not mean that school is actually in session! I heard your alarm go off this morning, and I slipped in to turn it off because I believed you needed more sleep. Jet lag can be quite fatiguing."

                Andi stared with her mouth open. "That's not fair!" she burst out. "It's not fair of my parents to do this to me! They give me a schedule and expect me to follow it and then they give you instructions to circumvent me at every turn to see if I stay obedient! Is Dr. Hebron here too? Is he waiting to drag me back to the asylum? I've tried to be good, I really have!" Her voice was climbing octaves with each word until her voice was almost inaudibly high. She was wringing…yes, actually wringing…her hands, a movement that Jean hadn't seen from anyone in a while, and never from one of the students. And her legs were shaking so badly Jean thought she was going to collapse. _Something is seriously wrong here,_ she thought, and did the first thing she could think of to do; she ran to the girl, wrapped her arms around the shaking body, and pushed Alexandra into the chair she had pulled out.

                "Alexandra," she said firmly, projecting an aura of calm and control, "We are not circumventing you. We are doing what is normal for us, which is letting one of our students sleep in on a morning when there are no classes. I have no idea what this schedule is you are talking about, but I can tell you one thing. It is summer. There are no schedules for the students in summer." For a moment she wondered if the child had heard; Alexandra's eyes were glazed, and she stared in front of her uncomprehendingly. 

Then the brown eyes cleared, some color returned to the white face, and a soft whisper came from the colorless lips. "He's not here?"

"Who?" Jean asked.

Alexandra's throat worked convulsively, and she said, "Dr. Hebron."

"No one's here who isn't supposed to be here," Jean said firmly. "Who is he?" She took a firmer grip on Alexandra's shoulders and chose her next words carefully. "What did he do to you, to make you so afraid of him?"

"Nothing." Alexandra said. "Nothing." She shook Jean's hands off and sat up straighter. "I'm fine. I'm sorry for disturbing you." She got up and literally fled the kitchen.

Remy spoke first. "Dere somet'ing wrong wit' de p'tite," he said. "Shouldn't be dat nervous dat young. What de hell happen to her?"

Jean shook her head, sat down, and took a long swallow of her coffee. "I haven't the foggiest idea. Damn!" She rubbed her aching temples. "I've got a headache now."

Ororo fished around in one of the cabinets and came up with a bottle of aspirin. Jean took it and shook out a few into her hand. "I've never seen shielding like that," she said. "Ororo, she's got something like a radio set up in her mind, and it plays constantly. She's using it like a shield, a protective barrier, between her mind and the outside world. If she weren't so controlled and so sure of herself I'd swear she's trying to deal with a new empathic sense, not an already developed one."

"Could be dat she never got proper training?" Remy asked, leaning over the table.

Jean shook her head. "That's impossible. It would have been the first thing she learned when her parents first discovered her empathy." She finished her coffee. "Ororo, do you know if Charles is awake yet?"

They were interrupted by the soft strains of the piano in the formal living room being played. Ororo stared at the clock. "It's nine-thirty," she said, more to herself than anyone else.

"What's special about nine thirty?" Jean said.

"Alexandra's parents want her to practice her piano lessons every morning from nine-thirty until eleven thirty," Ororo said softly.

"I haven't even met them and I already hate them," Jean said determinedly. "Why would they put her on such a rigid schedule? And her clothes! This isn't a private school, she doesn't have to wear a uniform, what are her parents thinking?"

*                                                              *                                              *

                Andi was thinking of the same thing as her fingers strayed up and down the ivory keys. She knew she didn't have to practice; Mrs. Summers' reaction to her unintentional outburst had shown her that they really didn't have any intention of making her follow her parents' schedule. But right now, she couldn't think of anything else to do. For the last year she had followed the same schedule every day; now, to suddenly have someone take it out from under her, she felt at odds with herself. She had no idea what to do with herself. If the school's faculty had no intention of following the schedule, then why had her mother given it to the headmaster? Why had they sent her here at all? 

                Maybe her parents didn't know that the faculty wasn't following the rules they had set down. Maybe the teachers here thought the idea of a set schedule was as odd as she had thought it when it had first been set for her a year ago. Maybe they thought it was crazy and had simply decided not to follow it, like she had initially.

                That was impossible. Andi paused as her mind fumbled for explanations. The faculty here must know that her parents had enough money to make some unpleasant things happen to this school if their wishes weren't met. Just as Andi had been punished when she did not meet her parents' expectations, surely the faculty knew that if they showed any sympathy to her they would be asked to leave the school because her parents complained, just like all the teachers in the past who had helped Andi briefly slip the tight stranglehold her parents had on her.

                It was terribly confusing here. Andi rested her forehead on the cool ivory keys and closed her eyes as her concentration, and therefore her shield, threatened to crumble. She pulled her 'song of the day', Mozart's 40th symphony, to the forefront of her mind, and concentrated on it for a moment, willing the music to become louder and louder and louder until the faint background hum, the sound of the faculty's minds all around her, was lost in the tidal wave of sound. When it was firmly in place, she picked her forehead off the keys and began to play again, much better and perfectly on key. 

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Jean tapped on Charles' door. "Charles?"

                "Come on in, Jean," he said. She opened the door and walked in, sighing as she flopped into the chair in front of his desk. "I just had an interesting run-in with our new student," she said. "She came into the kitchen looking for something to eat so she could stick to this schedule her parents apparently told her she has to follow. She got extremely upset when 'Ro told her she'd turned her alarm off to let her sleep. Charles, is there something wrong with Alexandra Sanderson that we should know about? Her nerves are wound so tight I swear she looks like she's going to snap at any moment."

                Charles handed her the piece of paper with Alexandra's parents' schedule on it and sat quiet as Jean read it. The redhead was shaking her head when she reached the end. "My God, Charles. When does she have time to simply be herself? They can't honestly expect her to follow this!"

                "Indeed," Xavier said. "I said the same thing; but they apparently do expect her to follow it, and judging from the sound of the piano downstairs, she will do her level best to fulfill her parents expectations."

                "But this isn't normal," Jean said. "Charles, if it were me, as soon as I was out of their sight I'd be trying to get as far away from a ridiculous schedule like this. They're not here. No one's watching. So why is she still doing this? Did her parents threaten her…" Jean trailed off. "I bet they did," she said, her green eyes wide. "That explains everything."

                Charles leaned forward. "What does?"

                "Down in the kitchen, she mentioned something about a Dr. Hebron, and an asylum, and being afraid to go back if she didn't follow her parents' instructions exactly. I bet they threatened to send her to an asylum or something if she didn't." Jean looked grim. "Charles, was there any mention in her file about an asylum?"

                "No." Xavier said, "The Sandersons did mention that they had found a psychiatrist to treat her disruptive behavior, and that she had spent a year in a juvenile facility for mutant children, but there was no mention of an asylum."

                "Kiddie jail. For her. Charles, there's something really wrong with that," Jean said.

                "Yes there is." Xavier said, "I am going to do some research into this Dr. Hebron. In the meanwhile, see what you and the others can do about getting her to open up a little more."

                Jean nodded. "Well, she didn't have anything to eat this morning, so she should be hungry by now. I'll have her join us for lunch, and maybe we can get her to open up a bit."

                "Do that." Xavier nodded, and Jean left the office.


	4. A Dance to Silent Music

Chapter 4:

                Andi knocked timidly on the open door, and waited for Miss Munroe to respond.

                "Alexandra," Ororo greeted the girl with a friendly smile at the sound of the timid knock. "Come on in. Anytime the door is open, child, please feel free to simply walk in. You only need to knock if the door is closed." She gestured the girl in.

                Andi took exactly two steps into the room, and stopped. "I don't want to bother you," she said quietly. "But I was just wondering…um…" Her hands were twisting again, and Ororo saw the nails were bitten down to the quick. 

                "Go ahead, child. I won't bite." Ororo was really starting to dislike Andi's parents. Why would any parents push their child so hard she would develop such neuroses?

                "Are the facilities for use anytime? I mean, like in the free time when no one's using them, can I…I mean…can anyone use the gym?"

                Ororo smiled. "Of course. And even if someone else is in there, feel free to use it if you want to."

                "Thank you!" Ororo caught a brief glimpse of the first real smile she'd seen on Alexandra's face since the girl was dropped off. Then Alexandra was gone, before Ororo could draw in a breath to ask her the question that had been nagging at her since that morning. She sighed and returned to what she had been doing; trying to figure out which girl would be in which rooms. When she was done this she would go and find Alexandra. 

*                                                              *                                                              *

                There wasn't anyone else in the gym. Andi slipped silently in the door and reached for the light switch. Her questing fingers found all three switches at once, and the gym became brightly lit. She closed the door carefully behind her, and took a deep breath. The beams overhead were hung with gym equipment. There were no cameras that she could see. She let out the breath, smiled, and released all her tension and nerves in an all-out run across the floor. Once in the corner, she carefully pulled off her pants, loafers, and shirt, opened the small bag she had carried down here, and upended its contents on the floor. 

                Her ballet shoes and her black leotard spilled out. She slipped on the leotard and sat down on the floor to put her shoes on, then decided not to. They were old, and worn, and almost falling apart, and she didn't want to wear them for just the exercises. Maybe, when she started receiving this allowance the headmaster wanted to give her she would take some of it and buy herself a new pair. Maybe she could afford to spare it then. 

                She started with the simple exercises, glorying in the pleasure of being able to stretch out, fully, of being able to loosen tense muscles and move without the hindrance of tailored clothing. The familiar movements relaxed her, and she finally decided she was warmed up enough to start dancing.

                She put her shoes on, walked out to the middle of the floor, and tried a few experimental steps _en pointe._ It had been almost a year and a half since she had last put them on; she had not been permitted to take any of her things with her when she went to the asylum, and she didn't dare dance at home. One of the house staff would tell her mother, and she would be in trouble.

                She began to hum under her breath, an energetic song from one of her favorite (private) singers, Gloria Estefan. It was a song called 'Reach'. Admittedly it was a pop song, but the rhythm and beat felt right for her mood, and she just improvised the steps as she went along. Music had always been like that for her; she could tell whether she liked a song or hated it from the first few measures. 

                Her mother had at first laughed at her daughter when a five-year old Alexandra had told her that she could 'see' music. She dismissed it as childish nonsense, and Andi, hurt by her mother's rejection of something that felt important to her five-year-old mind, had never spoken of it to anyone again. It was something she kept to herself; the fact that a few notes, put together in a particular way, could bring flashes of vivid, lovely colors and shapes behind her closed eyelids. She listened to music with her eyes closed; her mother had disliked it, her music teachers had loved it, but she'd never even told them that she could see music.

                Ororo and Jean watched spellbound. Unnoticed by the solitary dancer, they stood by the gym door, which they'd opened a crack just so they could see what Andi was doing. Ororo had finished room assignments and gone looking for the child; unable to find her, she had enlisted Jean's help in finding the missing girl. She had not expected to find her in the gym, dancing. "So this is what she wanted permission for," Ororo whispered to Jean. "Alexandra came to me earlier and asked if the facilities were available for use anytime."

                "I guess this is what she wanted permission for," Jean whispered back as she watched the girl execute a perfect series of spins. "I don't watch ballet a lot, but I think she's pretty good. She's wasting her talent by not using it." She stopped, and reconsidered. "Then again, I doubt she has much of an option. Did you see the courses her parents signed her up for? I'm guessing they want her to be a doctor or something. Poor child." She watched the girl for a moment. "Think we should leave her alone, or should we let her know that we know she's here—and that she doesn't have to hide anything from us?"

                At just that moment, Andi stumbled, the toe of her shoe catching on an uneven board in the floor, and spilled her on her side. She fell with a cry of pain. Ororo abandoned her post by the door and hurried across the floor. "Are you all right?" she reached for the ankle.

                Andi actually gave a scream of fright and scooted backward on the floor away from her. She stared at Ororo with wide eyes for a moment, then blurted, "Please, please don't tell my parents, please, Miss Munroe! I'll get in trouble!" She got up, ignoring the pain in her ankle as she backed away from Ororo.

                Ororo sighed. "Child, how many times must I tell you that you need not worry? I will not tell your parents anything! It is highly unlikely I would ever meet them, anyway! Sit down, you're not making your ankle feel any better standing on it." 

The girl paused for a moment, then surrendered and sat down on the floor. She untied the shoe and stretched her foot out for Ororo to look at. "I'm fine," she said in a small voice. "I just turned it. I'll be fine."

"Your ankle is swollen," Ororo said firmly. "Jean, can you brace her up telekinetically until we get to the kitchen? I want to put an ice pack on that before the swelling gets worse."

"No, no, I don't want to trouble you, I'm all right," Andi said hurriedly, untying her other shoe. She stifled her pain and forced herself to walk across the floor to where she had left her clothes, and she pulled her shirt on over the leotard and buttoned it up. "I'm all right. Really," she said, smiling brightly at the two women. It was the same smile she used to fool her parents; she figured it ought to work here too. She jammed her legs into her pants, then forced her foot into her loafer. "See? I'm all right. Thank you." And she disappeared out the door of the gym before Jean and Ororo could stop her.

Up in her room she pushed the door closed and slumped to the floor. That had been awfully close. If they had persisted in taking a look at her ankle she would have had to remove her tights and everything, and they would have seen the marks on her ankles that the straps from Dr. Hebron's bed had left on her skin. She hastily got up, took off her shirt and leotard, pants and tights, then hobbled into the bathroom. It was only a half-bath; showers were down the hall; but she could put her foot in the shallow sink basin and run cold water over her ankle, and maybe that would help. 

She was soaking her ankle when a sudden thought hit her, and she pulled the bathroom mirror out so she could check the cabinet behind it. She sighed in relief when she saw the aspirin bottle sitting next to the box of band-aids. Apparently they trusted the students to take care of small injuries themselves. She supposed that would be a better idea than having to dole out band-aids to the students for little things like scrapes and paper cuts.

She swallowed two of the aspirin and turned off the water in the sink, dried her foot off with the small towel, and was hobbling back into the room toward her bed when she heard a knock at the door. "Wait a moment," she said as evenly as she could, grabbing her pants and pulling them on, "I'm not decent." It was only a matter of a few more minutes before her bra and shirt were on, and she tucked the shirt in quickly before she said, "All right, I'm dressed."

Ororo walked in. "Are you quite sure you are all right?" she asked, concerned. "It was quite a nasty fall."

"Oh, yes, I'm fine," Andi lied, subtly shifting her weight off the foot and leaning back against the bedpost. "It was just a little fall. You don't need to worry about it, and you don't need to call my parents."

Again with the parents. Ororo had a feeling she was going to hate Alexandra's parents before long. "As long as you are sure," she said. "Alexandra, I meant to ask you if those are all the clothes you have." She gestured to the white shirt and black pants. "Are those the only clothes you packed?"

It hit a sensitive spot. Andi hated the clothes. "They're all my parents buy," she said bitterly, "So that's all I wear."

"You have no other clothes? No jeans, nothing you can relax in?"

_Do you think I'd wear this awful uniform if I had anything else?_ Andi wanted to yell, but she bit her lip. "No. I don't. Mother says jeans aren't proper clothes for well-bred young ladies."

Ororo blinked. Had she just heard sarcasm in Alexandra's tone? Her face was completely straight, so maybe it wasn't, but it had sounded for a moment like it was. "Would you like to go into town tomorrow to buy something more comfortable to wear for play? I have a few errands of my own to run; it would be no trouble to take you along."

Andi gasped, forgetting about the pain in her ankle. Shopping! It was something she hardly ever got to do. Trailing after her mother while her mother walked into every dress shop near their Boston home didn't qualify. To be able to pick something out for herself, to get something she wanted instead of something she hated, would be a change. But, "I don't have any money," she said.

"A part of the money collected from your parents for tuition is for clothes," Ororo explained. "All kinds of things can happen to the gym uniforms here; they get ripped, stained, and ruined in more ways than I can count. A portion of the tuition is for replacement of the clothing. I checked with Charles; he said he didn't see why some of it could not be spent on play clothes for you."

Andi opened her eyes wide to keep them from tearing up. They were being incredibly generous; no one had ever been this kind to her. "Thank you," she stammered.

Ororo reached out and hugged her. The girl looked like someone had just handed her an incredible gift; she was glad she could make Alexandra happy. "I will be leaving around eleven," she said, "Will you be ready?"

"Yes," Andi said.

"Good." Ororo let her go; the girl was stiff as a board, as though she had never been hugged before, or at least she didn't get hugged frequently. "Now why don't you come down to dinner? Lunch was rather light, by our standards; and you did not have breakfast, so you must be hungry. We're having roast beef tonight."

Andi's mouth watered. Oh, she would love that. She was about to say yes when she realized that there was no way she could take the stairs with her ankle the way it was and not show her pain. And if the teachers knew she was hurting, they would insist on seeing to her ankle, and questions would be asked that Andi didn't want to answer. So she said quietly, "Thank you, but no. I'm not very hungry; I think I'll skip dinner." Ororo frowned, but didn't press.

Andi breathed a sigh of relief as the door closed behind Miss Munroe. She hobbled across the room, picking up her discarded clothes and putting them back in the bag, then put her ballet shoes back in the bag and crawled across the bed to wedge the bag between the bed and the wall. She reached down a little further and felt the sock with her small stash of money in it. Satisfied that it was still there, she lay back on the bed. She was more tired than she would admit to herself, and she drifted off into a light doze.

She awoke some time later biting her lip from the pain in her ankle. She got stiffly out of bed, moaning with the pain, and went to the bathroom. Dampening a small washcloth with cold water, she carried it back to bed with her and left it on her night table as she changed into her black pajama pants and white t-shirt top. Thanking God that the pants were loose, she climbed back into bed, wrapped the cold towel around her ankle, and drifted off into a restless sleep.

                _Anger. And a cold, consuming rage directed at another person. Pain. Lots of pain. Betrayal, loss, more rage. More pain. Lots and lots of pain, overwhelming the mind and consuming the body. _

                Andi never heard herself scream in her sleep. She didn't hear the pounding footsteps in the hall; she didn't hear the knocks on her door. She didn't know anyone else was in her room. All she was aware of was the emotions surging into her mind, eroding her fragile shield. A hand gripped her arm, and a voice called her name. "Alexandra!"

                The touch brought with it a new wave of emotions. Fright and concern, an urgent need to know what was happening, and shock. She pushed the hands away, ignoring the pain in her now hugely swollen ankle, and cowered up against the headboard of the bed. "Stop it!" she heard herself scream, as form a distance, "Stop it, I can't, oh, please make it stop, I can't handle it, please, someone make it stop…" She began to sing, a nonsensical nursery rhyme remembered from when she was a little girl, repeating it over and over and over again, trying to use the sound and colors and shapes of the melody as a bulwark against the conflicting emotions that were crowding her mind.

                Xavier and Jean came in at a dead run, responding to the psychic disturbance in the mansion. They stopped short at the sight of the girl, cowering against the head of her bed, singing a nursery rhyme over and over at the top of her lungs, as if using the sound to drown out the emotions in her head. Xavier reached into her mind and slammed a psychic shield around her mind, cutting off the tidal wave of emotions that was overwhelming her.

                Andi suddenly realized how loud her singing was in the sudden silence. The confused babble of emotions in her head was gone, as if someone had reached out with a switch and turned it off. She stopped singing, and lifted her tear-stained face to the adults around her, and then she started to cry again, this time in pathetic despair. "I'm sorry for waking everyone, I'm sorry, please don't send me away, please, I promise it won't happen again, I'll shield better next time! Please don't send me back, don't call my parents and tell them I lost control again, they'll send me back to Dr. Hebron--"

                Ororo sat down on the bed and hugged the girl tightly. Under all that reserve was a badly frightened child trying to cope with something she couldn't control, and she had no one to turn to. Her heart went out to the girl.

                Andi tried to pull away from the older woman, but Ororo wouldn't let her. "Alexandra. It's all right, go ahead, let it out." For a long time there was no sound in the room but Andi's sobs.

                Jean spoke to Xavier. **Charles, what's wrong with her? Why did she suddenly break down like that?**

                _My fault_, thought someone. Jean turned to see Logan in the doorway, wearing a tank top and hastily pulled-on jeans. _I was havin' a nightmare, an' I guess she picked up on it._

                **So why did she not shield?** Charles was just as perplexed.

                Jean sat up straight, her mouth making an 'o' of surprise. **Because she can't! Charles, when I met her in the kitchen earlier, I touched her mind. She doesn't have shields, Charles, not like you or I have them. She 'plays' a song in her head loud enough to drown out others' emotions, and that's her way of shielding. I wondered at the time if maybe she was never taught properly to shield, but it seemed implausible, given her age and the fact that her parents got someone to help her, but it's the only thing I can think of that would explain this outburst.**

                **We'll have to fix that. I can't believe her parents would be so irresponsible as to give her mental training over to someone that inept.** Xavier's mindvoice was tinged with disgust at Alexandra's parents and pity for her. **All right. Everyone back to bed. Jean, if you wish to return to bed, I can handle this with Ororo.**

                Jean's mindvoice was uncertain. **Are you sure? I mean, I'm tired, but I can still help if you need it—**

                Xavier shook his head. **I think the fewer minds involved in this the better for her. She's already terribly confused; I don't want to exacerbate that. And I'm going to need to concentrate and find out how Dr. Hebron tampered with her mind.** Ororo started to rise, but Alexandra had her arms wrapped so tightly around her she couldn't disengage herself. Xavier smiled. **On the other hand, maybe you had better come. She might respond to a female presence better. Ororo, I believe you should come as well. You seem to have bonded with her; she might be more open if someone she trusts were there. I'm going to have to ask a number of questions, and not all of them are going to be easy ones.**


	5. Secrets

Chapter 5: Secrets

                Alexandra was still clinging to Ororo as they walked into the informal living room, but now for a different reason. Jean supported her on the other side, helping her walk. She had wanted to carry the girl into Xavier's office telekinetically, but even with the pain Alexandra was in her pride refused to let her take advantage of the offered help.

                Ororo sat on the couch with Alexandra beside her, and Jean telekinetically pushed a low ottoman up to the girl and put the swollen ankle on top of it. Alexandra didn't even protest. She was still dazed by the rapidity with which everything had happened.

                Jean pushed the pant leg up to expose the swollen ankle and studied it. Hank was the more experienced doctor, but even she could see that the ankle was badly sprained. And she saw something else too.

                "Alexandra," she breathed. She made a soft sound of dismay as she tugged the fabric further up the thin calf. "What happened!?"

                Alexandra closed her eyes. Clearly marked on her ankle were the faint white lines, scars from old abrasions left by the leather straps Dr. Hebron had restrained her with. "It's nothing," she said.

                Jean reached for the other ankle. Andi pulled the limb back under the chair, out of Jean's reach. Jean looked up at her. "Alexandra. Let me see your other ankle. If it has the same marks you have some explaining to do."

                Alexandra kept the foot tucked under the low couch. Jean sighed and gave it a gentle telekinetic tug. The foot stayed under the couch. She exerted more force, but with the same result. Jean pressed her lips together. "Alexandra, if the marks are nothing, then why are you hiding them?"

                The answer was whispered in a voice so low she barely heard it. "Because I'm ashamed of them."

                "Why?" Xavier asked her. Alexandra shrank into the couch, almost seeming to become visibly smaller as she answered him.

                "Because they're there because I can't control myself."

                Jean was about to say something, but Xavier stopped her with a gesture. "Can't control what?"

                The words spilled out. "I can't control myself. I can't control it to keep the other emotions, the ones that aren't mine, out. Dr. Hebron tried, he really, really did, but I just couldn't. It hurt, it really did, and I just couldn't, but he said I couldn't leave till I could, but I wanted so bad to just go home so I pretended I could!"

                That made absolutely no sense whatsoever, but Xavier was encouraged nevertheless. Alexandra was so afraid of emotions, even her own, that she had bottled them all inside. It wasn't healthy for a normal person, much less an empath. The fact that she had finally admitted her helplessness would make it one less burden she had to carry.

                Now to find out what it was that she couldn't do. "What was it?"

                She clammed up.

                Xavier sighed. "Alexandra," he began. "What is this school called?"

                She said quietly, "A school for gifted youngsters."

                Oh, well, it was close enough. "We don't consider mutations a curse, here, regardless of what your parents might call it. They're considered gifts here. I do take students gifted in other ways, of course, but the first and primary requirement for entry is having a mutation. Your parents were given to understand that you were accepted here for your grades. You weren't. You're here first for an education in the normal sense, and secondly for training in controlling and using your gifts, your powers, for your good and that of others around you. You may not be aware of the fact that I am a mutant too. I'm a telepath. I can project emotions, thoughts, and feelings into other minds, and also read them."

                "You're a telepath?" Alexandra started shaking. "Are you going to hurt me too?"

                "'Too'? Alexandra, what has…" Xavier cut Jean off. He was starting to get a better idea of the terrible secret Alexandra carried around with her, and it was an ugly one. He was going to need Alexandra's trust before he did what he knew he had to do. 

                "Yes, Alexandra, I'm a telepath. A fairly strong one. I'm not telling you this to frighten you, child, I'm trying to get you to understand that I have a very rigid code of ethics that prevent me from abusing my talent and using it for the wrong purposes. I could have read your mind as easily as you would read a book already; but I respected your privacy enough to try to ask you to tell me, instead of invading your mind and grabbing what I need to know."

"You mean, you're powerful enough that you could have read my mind already and you didn't? Why wouldn't you? I mean, everyone else…" she trailed off and bit down on a lip that was already chapped and raw.

"I would prefer that you tell me what is wrong, so that I can try to help you this way, rather than invade your mind and change it as someone has already so obviously done." He paused. "Will you help us help you, Alexandra?"

Silence for a long, long moment. Finally there was a small nod.

"All right. Thank you, Alexandra. Jean, if you would be so kind as to get one of the ice packs from the kitchen, we can make Alexandra more comfortable first."

"Andi." Andi said quietly.

Ororo looked at her. "What?"

"My name is Andi. I hate Alexandra. Everyone calls me that, and I hate it. It's so long." She fell silent again.

"I think Alexandra is a lovely name," Ororo said to her, "But if you like Andi, then that is what we will call you."

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Jean came back soon with the ice pack wrapped in a towel, and also a plate of sandwiches and two cups of tea. There was a third cup on the tray, an insulated thermos, and Andi assumed it was warmed tea for refills for the adults when Jean handed her the plastic container. "Here."

                "What is it?" she stared at it suspiciously, though the warmth of it against her clammy palm was comforting.

                "Hot chocolate," Jean answered her. "Very good for comforting children during long difficult conversations." Her green eyes held a trace of humor, and her smile was warm.

                Andi took it, and gave her a watery smile, which turned into a sharp hiss of pain as Jean cradled her sprained ankle in her lap. As carefully as she could, Jean laid the ice pack on the swollen ankle and wrapped a bandage around it to hold it on. Xavier waited until she was done and Andi had finished eating the sandwich before he broached the subject again. 

                "I realize some of these questions will be difficult for you, emotionally, to answer, so I'm going to keep the shield around your mind so you won't feel any emotions other than your own. I'm positive that mine will be sufficient, but for your peace of mind Jean will shield herself and Ororo as well so that you don't have to deal with them."

                Andi sat with her mouth hanging open. 'You can put shields around someone else/" she said disbelievingly. At his nod, she asked, "Can all telepaths do that?"

                He chose his answer carefully. "Most can, yes," he said. "If you can create a personal mental shield, then you can also create one around another person."

                "Then why didn't he do that?" Andi wailed suddenly. "Why did he make me.." she clamped her mouth shut.

                "Andi, it's all right. Let any emotions you have show. It will help us understand how to fix what happened to you. It will also help if you started at the beginning. When did you first realize you had a mutation?"

                Andi 's voice softened. "I'd just gotten kicked out of Merriweather Girls' school," she said softly. "The limo was driving back to the airport in Denver and my parents were arguing with each other over whether they wanted to find another school right away or if they wanted to have me stay home for a while. Father wanted me to stay home, but Mother said the extra cost of tutors would place an undue strain on her household budget, because she had just hired herself a personal maid. The driver was distracted by the argument and drifted a little too close to the center line. An eighteen-wheeler crossed the line a bit to make a wide turn, and the limo crashed into it." She swallowed. "The truck turned over on top of the car. The driver died instantly. Father was on Mother's side of the limo getting ready to use the installed lighter for his cigarette. They said later that it was the only thing that saved him. 

                "The truck landed over the left side of the limo, and the car tilted. Father's briefcase, with his laptop in it, was the last thing I saw before I blacked out. I have kind of confused memories later of waking up sporadically, at intervals, but the pain in my head hurt so much that Mother said later all I did was scream whenever I woke up.

                "The ambulance got there finally, but they had to wait for the police to call in people with blowtorches to cut me out, so Mother and Father insisted that there was no point in making them wait for medical assistance when they could be treated before I got out. They insisted that the ambulance take them to the hospital. Father had a fractured arm, but Mother only had scratches. I learned all of this from eavesdropping on the nurses who took care of me while I recovered from my skull fracture, because to hear my Mother tell it, they both were dying." Andi's voice was bitter. "I was trapped in the car, bleeding and in pain, and my parents didn't give a crap about me. It hurt so much, knowing they didn't really care. In the week that I was in the hospital I even tried to read my charts, to find out if I was adopted or something, because there had to be a reason why they didn't love me." A tear rolled down her cheek.

                Jean and Xavier exchanged glances. They both had the same thought; maybe Andi was adopted. They couldn't imagine anyone's parents wanting to go to the hospital for scratches and what were relatively minor injuries when Andi was bleeding and screaming in a pinned car. Jean kept a tight control on her shields, though. There would be time enough later for them to compare notes.

                Andi went on as Ororo put an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into the embrace, taking strength from the encouraging smile the silver-haired woman gave her, and her voice was stronger when she continued.

                "I was released from the hospital after a week. The doctor wanted to keep me longer because I was still having dizzy spells and fainting a lot, but Mother and Father decided that I would recover better at home." Her voice grew bitter again. "The doctor made my mother promise they would get a trained nurse for me when I got home so that if anything happened I'd be okay. But when I got home, there was no one. Just the old housekeeper (I hate her, by the way; she loves Mother's rules, and she tells on me for every little thing I do that isn't approved. And then I get punished.) Anyway, it was just Mrs. Ferrette, Mr Gordon, the butler; Anne, Mother's personal maid, and Mark, my father's valet. Mark would look in on me sometimes, and he would bring me aspirin when the pain in my head got bad, and once he brought me dinner in my room because my head had hurt so bad for three days so I couldn't even walk to the bathroom without falling.

                "He tried to tell Mother that something was wrong with me, but Mother didn't buy it. See, I'd spent so much of the last few years getting into trouble at school to get attention from them that she didn't believe me when I really needed help. She told him I was acting up and to ignore me, and he got his pay docked that week for bringing my dinner. The next time it happened he was trying to sneak food up to me again when Mrs. Ferrette caught him, and he got fired.

                "The pain just got worse and worse and worse. I lost weight so fast I stopped having periods. I got desperate enough one day to try to get downstairs to eat, and Mother found me on the stairs crawling on my hands and knees trying to get to the dining room. She scolded me, and forced me to get up. I didn't even think; I told her she was supposed to have a nurse for me, and I was going to call the doctor at the hospital and tell him she hadn't kept her promise. She slapped me so hard I fell, and I kept falling all the way down the stairs. The stitches opened up on my forehead, and I was screaming before I blacked out."

                She paused to take a sip of the hot chocolate, and Jean drew in a deep breath. She hadn't realized she was holding it. Andi was lucky she had survived; head fractures could be tricky things. If she had broken anything in her head during the fall down the stairs, she could have ended up in a coma, or worse.

                "When I woke up again, I found myself lying back in my bed with another doctor, a stranger, stitching up my head. It hurt so much, because he didn't use anesthetic. At least this time they paid to have him stay, but the first memory I had of when I woke was feeling my mother's frustration that she had to spend the extra money on another doctor.

                "It kind of switched itself off and on over the next few weeks while I healed under the doctor's care. It was more off than on, and it kind of didn't really bother me much, but about a month later the switch suddenly seemed to get stuck in the on position, and it stayed there. It was horrible. I could feel every emotion in the house. Anne was mad at her boyfriend when she reported for work one morning, and I got that emotion stuck in my head. I just grabbed my breakfast plate off the table and threw it on the floor. It broke. I got punished. A few days later, Father's new valet Mick had his back teeth pulled and he was in agony. I screamed all day. Mr. Gordon's dog died and I spent the whole day crying. And then one morning they all came in with something wrong or another, and I just lost it. I was crying, screaming, throwing things, and just messing everything up. Mother tried to ignore it, and when she couldn't she punished me.

                "I couldn't stop what was happening until they had left for the day. I pounded on the closet door for what seemed like hours before Mother was finally convinced I wasn't going to break her precious crystal and let me out. I begged her to get me help. I told her what had been happening, that I was feeling other peoples' emotions in my head and I begged her to get me help. She started to walk away. 

                "I was desperate. I grabbed her and shoved her against the wall and told her I would kill myself or her or Father if she didn't get me help. She must have gotten scared, and she called Mr. Gordon and Mrs. Ferrette, and they put me back in the punishment closet. I begged, cried, screamed, and threatened all night, and the next day. They didn't let me out. I didn't see daylight until the day after. Mother opened the closet door and I saw a strange man looking at me. Mother was saying that I was crazy, that I had delusions that I was a mutant and I was hearing voices in my head and she was keeping me locked up to keep me from hurting her or Father.

                "I was a mess. After two days in the closet, I hadn't eaten or drank or gone to the bathroom, I smelled, I was skinny, I was hungry. He took one look at me and told Mother he was going to 'take my case'."

                Andi stopped. Her hands were shaking, and she was crying, tears running down her face. She suddenly put a hand to her mouth and her face went pale. Ororo saw the symptoms first, and grabbed wildly for Xavier's metal wastebasket, dumping the paper on the floor and holding it for Andi as she threw up the sandwich and hot chocolate. Jean watched, her hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes; Xavier was similarly dismayed. Ororo had tears spilling down her cheeks as she patted the heaving shoulders and back, whispering soothing sounds as Andi retched miserably.


	6. Ali

Chapter 6: Ali 

                It wasn't long before Andi finally sat back against the couch, looking white and drained, but to her watchers it seemed like forever. She didn't have a lot in her stomach to begin with; she'd barely eaten anything all day. It was mostly dry heaves.

                "Andi," Xavier said, as gently as he could, "Why don't you get some sleep? This is exhausting you, and it's quite distressing for us too. We need time to assimilate what you told us, and I think you need to rest a bit before you continue. Why don't we do this tomorrow?"

                "No! Please, don't make me leave, please!"

"Andi, we'll be right here. Nothing's going to hurt you."

"It's not that." She swallowed and said in a low voice, "I can't get my shields up when I'm this upset."

Xavier said, "Andi. Let me tell you something. You don't _have_ shields. Do you feel the shield around your mind right now?" The girl nodded. "That is a shield. Does yours feel like this?" He got a negative headshake. "You were never taught how to shield properly. This is what a shield should feel like. I'm going to teach you to do this too, and how to make it instinctive, but not tonight. Tonight I'll put one around your mind to keep you from feeling anyone else's dream, so you can sleep comfortably."

                Andi nodded weakly, and held still while Xavier 'locked' it into place. She smiled wanly when he withdrew from her mind, and said, "Thank you, you have no idea how much it helps. One night, without having to play music in my head until I fall asleep, one night without hearing someone else's dream…Oh, god, I wish it could be like this every night!" And tears started falling again.

"It will be," Xavier said. "Shielding is a bit difficult to learn, but once you've got it, it's easy. It's like learning to ride a bike." He took in her blank look, and said, "You never…" he sighed. "Never mind. Good night, Andi." 

Jean bit her lip as the girl wrestled herself to a sitting position, and Ororo removed the now-warm ice pack from her foot. Andi stood on it, testing the ankle, and gave them a weak, watery smile. "It does feel better," she said. "Thank you."

                Jean shook her head as the girl started to limp out of Xavier's study. "It might feel better, but you still shouldn't put too much weight on it," she said. "'Ro, will you take Andi up to her room?"

                Andi was doing okay on the floor, but sighed when she saw the stairs. Ororo didn't give her time to try it. She swept the girl up in her arms and started to ascend the staircase.

                Andi gave a startled yelp. "Miss Munroe!"

                Ororo smiled. "You do not weigh much, child. You are not a burden. Please, just relax."

                Andi did. She couldn't remember ever being carried to bed, even when she was a child. She leaned her head against Ororo's shoulder and closed her eyes as the older woman reached the landing and started to climb to the third floor rooms. She was feeling a lot better than she could ever remember feeling in a while; maybe it was the prospect of a good night's sleep, instead of the uneasy light doze she always took; waking up as soon as she felt the touch of another's emotions on her own so she could start playing the music in her head again. Or maybe it was the suddenly light feeling she had, as if she had been carrying a very heavy load for a long time, and someone had just told her she could put it down. The last thought in her head as she fell asleep was that even if she couldn't learn how to shield, this one night of peace was going to be worth spending the rest of her life in misery. Just one night…

                Ororo felt the tension go out of the body she held, and looked down. The poor child was asleep. She nudged the room door open with her toe, and walked into the darkened room. There was just enough light from the hall for her to twitch the tousled covers back with a light breeze, lay Andi out on the bed, and pull the covers back up. The girl sighed in her sleep and curled up on her side, arms wrapped around her body. Ororo reached out and tenderly swept the brown bangs off the forehead, studying the white, taut scar that started an inch above the left eyebrow and continued back into the hair for four inches. It was bare; no hair grew on it. She replaced the bangs and got up.

                She was at the door when the girl in bed stirred, muttered a bit, and hugged herself tighter. Ororo's heart ached. Poor, poor child,, carrying a burden too heavy for someone so young. And she didn't have friends to talk to, and Ororo knew somehow that Andi wouldn't have a diary either. Her parents would never have let her keep one that they didn't have access to, and Andi wouldn't have kept one that she would have to lie into. On a sudden impulse, she went upstairs to the attic where she slept, crossing the cool floorboards awash in moonlight. Her hands searched in the shadowy corner of her room where her desk was, and lighted on the soft object she sought. 

                She retraced her steps to Andi's room, entered, and stood by the bed for long moments, watching the child sleep. Then she reached down and grasped a wrist. There was a bit of resistance, and a soft whimper from the girl, but Ororo took advantage of the momentary relaxation of the arm muscles and slipped the object into it.

                Andi's hand fell on the soft, worn brown fur of the small teddy bear Ororo had had for years. She had stolen it in a bazaar in Egypt so many years ago she no longer remembered how much he had cost. Ororo had named him Ali later, both for the shopkeeper who had seen the ragged little girl steal the bear and let her keep it, and for the boxing star she had seen fighting in a TV in a shop window one night when she was thirsty, hungry, and alone. She had felt a strange kinship with the boxer getting punched, and had stopped to watch until the match was over and Muhammad Ali had won. She had vowed to the bear then and there that she would win too, someday, against a world that didn't care about the throwaway lives that were born unwillingly and unknowingly into it. 

                And she had kept that promise. Through the years of being on the street, of fighting for everything she needed and wanted, and later, for control of the powers the Goddess had granted her. Ali had been with her through all of those years, comforting her when she was so hungry she could cry, so frustrated she could scream, so hurt she wanted to give up.  She had re-stuffed him many times, re-sewn the ripped seams, and many times she had gone to throw the little stuffed bear away but never could. Now here was another child who needed him. Andi was rich; she had parents, she had a fancy home and more clothes than she could possibly wear, and as much food and drink, and much fancier kinds than Ororo had had at her age.

                But Andi needed him. She was soul-starved for love, for the approval and acceptance of the people around her; thirsty for the knowledge and control of her powers that had thus far eluded her frantic searching; and more alone than Ororo had ever been.

                "You are not alone anymore," she said softly to the sleeping girl, falling to her knees beside the bed and addressing the button eyes of the bear (they had once been glass, but those had fallen away, and Ororo had replaced them with buttons.) "Take care of her, Ali. I know I swore I was going to keep you forever; but Andi needs you, probably more than I ever did. I had the other street children; she truly has no one. Take care of her." She reached out and touched the bear one last time, pressed her forehead against the brown fur and the hand of the desperate child who now clutched him tightly, then got up and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

                Moonlight gleamed serenely on a single fat tear resting atop the thin hand. It finally rolled off, to soak into the bear's nose. Not the first tear Ali had ever absorbed, and definitely not the last.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Jean looked up as Ororo re-entered the study, cradling another cup of hot tea. "I thought you would have gone to bed too," she said. "Is Andi asleep?"

                "She fell asleep on the way up," Ororo said, sitting back down on the couch, shedding her slippers and tucking her feet up under her. She arranged her nightgown and robe to cover her feet, and took a sip of her tea. "I do not believe she will waken soon. She was exhausted, emotionally and physically. And I could not go back to bed. I cannot get the image out of my mind of the poor child locked in a closet without food or drink for days." 

                "I can't, either, " Xavier said, shaking his head as if to get the image out of his mind. "I can't believe the Sandersons went to the hospital without her. I can't believe her mother left the scene before she knew if her daughter was going to make it out alive."

                "I saw the scar," Ororo said. "On her forehead, under her hair. It starts just over her eyebrow and disappears four inches into her hair. The bleeding must have been terrible. And then to have the wound reopened by a fall down the stairs…" she sighed. "Charles, have you considered the possibility that maybe Andi cannot learn to shield, that perhaps her injury 'broke' something in her mind that prevents her from being able to control it?"

                He shook his head. "I think I'll have Hank do some scans," he said heavily. "I hadn't considered the possibility."

                "What will you do if that is the case?" Jean stood behind Xavier's wheelchair and began to rub the tight, knotted muscles in his shoulders.

                "Oh, that feels good…down a little bit, Jean…thank you…I don't know," Xavier sighed. "Probably erect a permanent barrier around her empathy and block it off entirely.  I doubt that the 'off switch' is broken, but it certainly is possible that the injury may have increased her sensitivity level." He buried his face in his hands for a moment, then rubbed at his aching temples. "She picked up on Logan's nightmare a floor and one entire wing away. If she is indeed physically incapable of learning how to shield, leaving her with her empathy intact would be condemning her to eventual insanity. I can't do that to her. I can't hurt her by ignoring her, as her parents seem to have done." He sighed. "I am trying to resist the urge to call them up and scream at them and at this Dr. Hebron Andi keeps mentioning. If he truly was a psychiatrist, he should have recognized Andi was empathic, not mentally ill. I'm almost dreading tomorrow; I don't think I really want to know what she went through, but I have to hear it if I hope to help her. Thank you, Jean." He absently picked up the sandwich, then looked at it, grimaced, and put it down. His eyes traveled to the wastebasket.

                Jean sighed. "Let me take care of it, Charles." She telekinetically picked it up, opened the window, and upended the contents into the bushes outside. Then she closed the window. "I'll put it back after I rinse it out." And she left the room.

                Ororo was quiet for a moment, her eyes fastened to the window, looking at the lightening sky in the east. Birds started to chirp in the bushes outside the window. "I gave Ali to Andi," she said.

                Xavier's head snapped up. He knew all about the bear, and how much it meant to her. "Ororo, it wasn't necessary," he said as gently as he could, studying the tear that collected in Ororo's eye at the loss of her stuffed friend. "There are a number of Jubilee's old things in the storage room in the basement. I'm sure she wouldn't have minded the donation of one of her stuffed animals for Andi."

                "I know," Ororo said quietly. "But somehow it felt right. Andi doesn't need a toy, Charles, she needs a friend, someone to talk to, to cry and scream at, and let her emotions out on.  Granted, he's only a stuffed animal, but all those years I carried him around, it somehow felt he was watching over me and he sympathized with me. And I hope Andi feels the same thing. She's so lonely, Charles. In a houseful of people, with parents and servants and other students in all those schools, she's lonely. More alone than I ever was…and I never thought that was possible." She sniffed, and reached for a tissue from the box on Xavier's desk. 

He took one too, wiping at eyes that weren't quite dry, and smiled at her. "You're a wonderful woman, Ororo," he said. "I don't think anyone else would have done that."

"Oh, come on," she said lightly, standing and shoving her feet into her slippers, walking over to the window as the first rays of sun turned her silver hair to gold. "You would, if it were you. In many ways, you have, over and over again."

He joined her at the window, curious. "How?"

Ororo turned her back to the sunrise, leaning against the window and studying him. "You have told us that when you first came here to your ancestral home, you found peace and quiet and contentment here. Coming here helped you come to grips with the fact that you would never walk again. And so what did you do? You opened your home to others who had their own issues to come to grips with, mutants who had to face their irreversible state and live with permanent changes. In effect, you gave us your 'teddy bear' so we could learn to live and cope with what happened to us. It is not an easy thing to do." She drank down the last of her tea and walked to the door as the sound of the mansion's inhabitants waking and going about their business intruded. "You set the example. I followed." She opened the door. "Should I bring your breakfast in here?"

"No," he said. "I believe I'll go lie down for a while. Catch up on my sleep before Andi wakes up. I'll eat later, but thank you for the offer, Ororo."

"It is not a problem. Sleep well, Charles."

He sat for a moment at the desk, thinking about what Ororo had said. He supposed he should be flattered, being a role model for a grown woman, but there was a curiously hollow feeling inside him because he knew it wasn't true. How often, in the years since he had brought his first students here and egotistically named them 'his' X-Men, had he wished that he could take it all back, rewind the clock so that the mansion would be what it was again? They had been tumultuous years. Very few parts of the building were original, the mansion having been rebuilt many times when their opponents had torn it down in an effort to vanquish his X-Men and his dream. Yet he knew it would always be here for him, in some form or another, as long as he had the money to have it rebuilt. And money, thanks to wise investments, copyrighted patents, student tuition, and donations from certain friends, was something he would never be short of.

He reached into his desk drawer, took a small key out, and unlocked the last drawer of his desk. His own mascot stared back at him, plastic eyes still in place, acrylic fur as glossy as it had been the day Moira had given it to him, the little cross-in-the-circle emblem fresh on its sweater, embroidered there by a woman he loved.

Charles lifted 'Little Xavier' out of the drawer, staring at it for a while as tears pricked his eyes at the memory of his love for Moira. He could never give up the little stuffed bulldog. Never. "It's not the same, Ororo," he said quietly. He leaned back in his wheelchair, hugging the little dog to his chest as tears ran silently down his face. 

"It's not the same at all."


	7. The Asylum

Chapter 7: The Asylum

                Andi's eyes fluttered open.

                There was no disorientation this time. The absence of sound and others' emotions in her head had reminded her of the events of the night before vividly.

                She turned her head, checked her bedside clock. Almost eleven-thirty. She'd never woken up this late before. No, correction; she'd never been allowed to wake up this late before. She started to roll over when she felt an unfamiliar pressure against her side. She looked down.

                Nestled against her side was a small stuffed bear, its brown fur worn from what looked like years of handling. Andi picked it up, staring at it in disbelief. She'd never had a stuffed animal before; her mother said they were childish, silly things. Maybe that was why she'd always wanted one. A toy she could have, hold, love, cherish, talk to, cry on, scream at, and throw when she needed release…but she'd never been allowed to have one.

                She sat up in bed, looking at the button eyes and soft fur. Maybe it was her imagination, but the bear actually did seem to be looking at her, and she could almost feel the blanket of warmth and comfort emanating from the relic. She was just about to wonder where he had come from when she saw the single long silver strand caught under the button.

                Miss Munroe. Andi studied the bear. It was well-loved, obviously, judging by the neat stitches down its back where the seam had been taken out and replaced. She hugged the bear once, again, before setting him down against her pillow and sliding out of bed. She stood gingerly, resting her feet against the floor, and testing her ankle. It seemed to be okay.

                She pulled on a fresh pair of black pants and another one of those awful white shirts, and surveyed her reflection in the mirror. On a sudden impulse, she yanked the elastic holding her hair in a tight braid out and let her brown hair fall in waves down her back. It wasn't as pretty as Miss Munroe's hair, but the feel of her hair loose felt wonderful. She slipped the elastic around her wrist and stepped into her loafers, then closed her room door and went downstairs to the kitchen.

                To her surprise, Ororo was in the kitchen making what looked like breakfast. She looked up as Andi walked in, and smiled at the girl. "Did you sleep well?" If she was surprised by Andi's loose hair she didn't show it.

                "Never better." Andi stretched, arms above her head, smiling. "It was wonderful, being able to sleep comfortably. It's been a long time." She looked around the kitchen. "Where is everyone else?"

                "Doing various things." Ororo took a couple pieces of toast from the toaster and said, "I know you must be hungry, but after your upset stomach last night I believe it would be wiser if you ate a light breakfast. Would you prefer cereal, or oatmeal?"

                "Cereal, please," Andi made a face. "Oatmeal is all I get at home. Oatmeal and bran flakes."

                Ororo smiled to herself. "Cereal is in the cupboard over there." She pointed to a cabinet above the microwave. "Feel free to pick anything you want. Here." She passed Andi a bowl, which Andi took gratefully. 

                Ororo watched as the girl studied the contents of the cabinet carefully. Her hand hovered over the corn flakes for a moment, irresolute, and then grabbed for the sugary cereal Bobby had bought the other day. Ororo concealed her smile and returned to the toaster, which had obediently popped two more slices out of its slots. She smeared it with a generous amount of strawberry jam, then sat down at the table with her own plate. She pushed the extra toast across the table to a surprised Andi. "Go ahead, Andi," she said. "You look like you could use it."

                Andi smiled, applied herself to her toast and cereal for a while, and it wasn't until she was reaching for the box of cereal for a second helping that she broke the silence. "Thank you for the bear," she said. "I've never had one before."

                Ororo smiled at her. "His name is Ali," she said. "Take care of him, and he'll take care of you. He was with me through all the difficult times of my life; he'll help you with yours."

                Andi's eyes widened. "Are you sure you want to give him to me?" she said. "I mean, he's yours, and you obviously love him very much—are you sure?"

                "Quite," And Ororo launched into Ali's story as Andi ate mechanically and listened to her. When she finished, Andi sighed.

                "I'll take care of him, I promise," she said.

                Silence reigned as Ororo finished her breakfast and took the dishes in the sink. Andi joined her, rolling up the sleeves of her shirt and attacking the dishes with the soapy sponge. When she was done, Ororo handed her a towel to dry her hands and said, "Charles is still asleep. I thought that perhaps you would agree to accompany me to the mall so we could purchase you some clothes."

                "Sure." Andi suddenly hesitated. "Ororo? How does the shield thing he gave me work?"

                Ororo frowned. "I am not a telepath, child. I do not know." She suddenly realized what Andi was really asking, and she smiled. "If you are wondering if the shield will hold other thoughts out while we shop, the answer is yes. Charles is an extremely powerful telepath, and the shield will not come down unless he wills it."

                Andi looked uncertain, but nodded anyway.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Ororo was really beginning to hate that uncertain look in her eyes. And she wanted to do something extremely painful to Andi's parents, who had kept their daughter so isolated that even such a simple thing as choosing her own clothes was difficult. Andi looked at the clothes in all the shops that catered to the children her age and kept saying, "My mother wouldn't like that" and "Father would hate that". 

                Ororo finally stopped Andi outside yet another store and said firmly, "Andi, you are going to wear the clothing, not your mother or father. They will never see them. You can leave them at the school when you go home for the holidays. You need not worry about what your parents are going to say about your taste in clothes." 

                Andi grew less tense after that, and soon she was heading for the dressing rooms of the department store with an armful of clothing items. She tried on everything, walking out wearing some of the items to get Ororo's opinion of the clothing. Ororo was amused by some of her choices, but was overall fairly pleased with Andi. The girl had taste.

                They were walking past a rack of bathing suits when Ororo stopped. "Andi," she said. "Why don't you get one of these? Then you can come swimming with us in the pool."

                Andi shook her head, but Ororo made it clear she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Andi finally reached out and took two off the rack at random, walked into the fitting room, and closed the door. Several minutes later she came out wearing the first suit so Ororo could see it.

                Ororo studied the suit. The green color went well with Andi's brown hair and eyes, but the girl's excessive thinness made the high-backed suit pull too tightly in all the wrong places, and sag in others. Andi looked at herself in the mirror, grimaced at her reflection, and said, "I don't look good in bathing suits, Miss Munroe." She turned to go back into the fitting room. 

Ororo stopped her when something caught her eye. "Andi, wait. What's that on your hip?" The girl suddenly grabbed the edge of the suit where it was riding up on her hipbones, and tried to run for the fitting room. Ororo followed her in.

                She tugged on Andi's hand, pressed over her exposed right hipbone. Andi tried to prevent her, but she wasn't strong enough to resist Ororo's touch, and the older woman tugged the leg opening of the suit up a bit to see the mark that had caught her eye. 

                Ororo swallowed hard. On the white skin, against the protruding bone, was a scar, old but still visible as a circular patch of shiny pink skin. She stared at it for a moment, then looked up at Andi. The girl was looking up at the ceiling of the fitting room, trying hard not to cry. She wrapped her arms around the stiff body, and Andi suddenly collapsed against her, crying bitterly. "Ssshhh. Ssshhh, it's all right, child. It's all right."

                Andi pushed herself away from Ororo finally and sighed, her hands going to the hook fastening at the back of the suit's high neck. As she pulled it down, Ororo held her breath. Andi held still as Ororo's fingers traced the circular scars on her shoulder blades, the two lines down either side of her spine, and the rectangular patches over her kidneys on her lower back. "Andi, what happened?"

                "Dr. Hebron." Andi yanked the suit off, put it back on its hanger, and turned to get her clothes off the bench. Ororo saw the same marks on her stomach under her ribs, and on the other hipbone. The sight of them made her ill, and she wondered if there were any other scars hidden under the girl's white cotton briefs and exercise bra. She patted the girl's back awkwardly, and left as Andi pulled her clothes back on. Suddenly she didn't feel like shopping anymore; she wanted to take Andi home and have Charles and Jean help her exorcise the rest of the demons in her past.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Xavier was waiting for them when they got back. Ororo sent Andi on ahead to his office while she dropped their purchases in her own room, and then made a quick stop in Andi's room to pick Ali up. When she got back to the living room, Jean was there.

                Ororo handed Ali to Andi, who clutched the teddy bear to her chest. "Andi," she said gently, "Please show Charles the scars. You don't have to remove your clothing; just pull the back of your shirt up a bit."

                Charles looked visibly upset as he saw the two circular scars on Andi's kidneys, and Jean looked like she was going to be sick. "Andi, what happened?" Charles asked as Andi sat back down on the couch. Ororo sat beside her, holding her as she began to talk.

                "I don't remember how I got to the facility. I have a vague memory of Dr. Hebron sticking a needle in my arm as Mr. Gordon and Mrs. Ferrette dragged me out of the closet. When I woke up I was at the facility, lying on a bed frame and held down by straps buckled around my wrists and ankles. There were a lot of people there; and a lot of them really were mentally ill. It was like being trapped in a room full of TV's, all of them on at full volume, and all of them changing channels faster than I could pin them down. I was screaming after ten minutes were out. I wanted to go home. I thought home was bad…but the asylum was worse. Dr. Hebron kept trying to talk to me, but I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying because of the emotions.

                "He tried and tried, but I couldn't say a single word. He finally got disgusted with me, I think, and he had two people, orderlies, he called them, take me off the bed. They took me down a flight of stairs. I don't know how far down below the asylum they took me, but it was just enough to clear a tiny bit of the noise out of my head. They put me in a tiny room, not much bigger than the closet at home. It had cement walls and floor and a hole in the corner for me to go to the bathroom, and Dr. Hebron told me before he left that maybe several days in an isolation chamber would make me realize that my 'playacting' wasn't going to work with him.

                "They shoved a plate of some kind of thick stew and a cup pf water inside once a day. I didn't notice the first couple days; the noise was overwhelming. I spent most of the time screaming, clawing at my head, pulling on my hair, trying to do something, anything, to get the feelings to stop. The third day, I started to sing. I sang as loud as I could, trying to drown out the mental noise overwhelming me. After a while, I found out if I concentrated hard enough, I could use the music as a barrier between my mind and everyone else's. I imagined the music notes piling on top of each other, thicker and thicker, until everything else got blocked out and I was alone in my mind.

                "It worked. I had to concentrate really, really hard, but it worked. I thought it was a shield, like I'd read about. I started taking an interest in everything again, ate for the first time in a week, drank, and then tried to clean myself up.

                "Dr. Hebron had me brought back up a day later. The noise was worse up there; I had to physically sing. I couldn't just imagine the music in my head like I could down there. So I talked to Dr. Hebron through my singing, making up phrases while I sang. He was puzzled at first, but he finally understood.

                "He told me I was an empath, that I had a mutation that would allow me to 'hear' others' emotions. And he told me that he needed someone like me to help him with the research he was doing with his patients, because they couldn't talk, most of them. Not coherently, anyway. He needed someone who could tell him what the emotional reactions were to what he said and did. But in order for me to help him I had to learn to shield out other emotions so I could focus on one given individual. 

                "He said if I shielded using music that was okay; but I had to learn to do it completely and at will. And he set out to make it so I could do that. I was strapped down to the bed upstairs, right beside a violent mentally ill man whose emotions seemed the worst. I had to learn to shield, and shield tightly and completely, or he would drive me mad. I spent days and days lying there, screaming and singing, and finally he said I had to be quiet. After that I was gagged so I couldn't make a sound. The music in my mind was all I had, and I tried. I really, really tried…" Andi's voice broke a little. She took a few deep breaths, calmed herself, and went on. "I don't know how long I was there before I could block out that man's emotions, but one day I realized that I couldn't feel them anymore. I thought I had done it, I thought maybe he would be pleased enough now to do what he wanted to do and let me go home. He had promised that if I helped him for a while then he'd let me go home.

                "But he said just learning to block it wasn't enough. I had to be able to shield no matter what. So he took the electroshock machine he used on his patients and hooked me up to it. He put electrodes on all the places of my body that would hurt the most; two thin wires taped on either side of my spine, electrodes over my kidneys, on the muscles of my shoulders, on my diaphragm, on my…breasts…and on my hips. And he started to shock me. It hurt terribly; I screamed, lost concentration, and all those emotions I had worked so hard to block out came rushing in again. 

                "He did it over and over and over. When he saw that the electricity had burned my skin, he unhooked me from the machine and sent me back downstairs to the cement room. I stayed down there two days, recovering, then he had me brought back up and he did it again. I don't know how long it was before I finally was able to concentrate enough to ignore the agony and do what he wanted me to do.

                "For a year he had me at the asylum, locking me in the room downstairs at night and bringing me upstairs by day so I could tell him what his patients were feeling. He was trying electroshock on the patients, at different voltages, to try to make them respond. They felt the pain; but they couldn't voice it. I screamed for them; I begged him for them. I was their voice because they couldn't speak. One man; I think his name was Greg; Dr. Hebron called him patient 326. He knew what was happening. He was aware. And he couldn't do anything. When I screamed because Dr. Hebron was electrocuting him, he would look at me, and there was so much sadness in his eyes.

                "I couldn't eat the hard bread they fed me half the time because my throat hurt so much from screaming. Greg knew. One afternoon as we were waiting in the lab for Dr. Hebron (he was in his wheelchair with the seatbelt in place; I was lying on the bed frame, my ankles strapped down. He reached over, unbuckled one of my wrists, and thrust a chunk of the softer white bread they fed the inmates of the asylum into my hand. I ate it, and thanked him. After that he started to save whatever he could sneak off his tray and give it to me. I think if it wasn't for him I would have died of hunger; Dr. Hebron didn't care about anything except for the results he was getting.

                "But then he was cycled out of the asylum as part of a doctor exchange program, and the new doctor who came in talked to me and realized I wasn't mentally ill. So I was sent home.

                "Mother and Father weren't pleased that I was home. They said they wished that I had been kept at the asylum, and that they were going to try to find where Dr. Hebron had gone, so that they could get him to readmit me to the asylum and get me out of their way." Andi swallowed. "I was terrified. I kept waiting for the phone call that would mean Dr. Hebron wanted me back, but as the months went by and he never called, I started to relax.

                "Then one night I heard Mother talking. They had found Dr. Hebron, but he was in the process of getting his license revoked so he couldn't practice anymore. Father said he was going to try to find a way around it, but he said in the meantime I should go off to school. The tutors they had hired were expensive, much more so than a boarding school would be, and he said until they got the stuff with Dr. Hebron sorted out I would be better off in school. They looked around, chose one at random, and enrolled me here. Mother told me that if I'm not good here she'll send me back to the asylum. I was terrified; I promised her I would follow every rule, do all the studying she wanted me to do, and be the perfect girl.

                "I have every intention of keeping that promise…at least until I'm eighteen. When my birthday comes around I'm going to take the money I've managed to save and go far away, get a job somewhere and get so lost my parents will never find me again. They won't care, anyway." She sat back against the back of the couch, sighing.


	8. Gathering Shadows

Chapter 8: Gathering Shadows

                Xavier was still sitting there in shock at what Andi had told them. It was sheer, unbridled cruelty, to put an empath who couldn't shield in the middle of an asylum full of people who couldn't control their basic bodily functions, much less their emotions. And the electrodes on Andi's body had been left so long, and the voltage was up so high, that they had burned her skin and left scars. He was horrified at the thought of the girl strapped down, gagged, and convulsing from the electric current racing through her body.

                "Andi," he finally said, taking one of her hand in his, "I am so sorry. I don't know what to say. I've never heard of anything so cruel being done to anyone.

                "I don't want to scare you, but there is something I want you to do. Will you go with Jean and Ororo downstairs to the med labs and allow Dr. McCoy to check you over? I want to make sure that the electroshock didn't hurt you internally. It won't take long; all you have to do is lie down and let him scan your body. It won't hurt. Will you do that for me?"

                Andi nodded, and got up. Ororo hugged her, and they walked out of the room, followed by Jean. Xavier was left alone with his thoughts.

                Had Andi's parents known what was going to happen to their daughter when Dr. Hebron took her away? Or were they so relieved that she was gone they didn't question where she was going or what was going to happen to her? What about when she came back? How did they explain the emaciation, the permanent scarring, the marks of restraints around her wrists and ankles? Did they just dismiss it as necessary to restrain a difficult child? What kind of research was so important that Hebron had to torture Andi to get his results? Were the results worth it?

                A little inner voice answered most of those questions; he just didn't want to face them. No results were worth what the girl had suffered; nothing could be. Xavier was a firm believer in the adage that the ends did not justify the means. You couldn't sacrifice the few to save the many; if you did, what was the point of the sacrifice? The very fact that a sacrifice of lives had to be made meant that whoever was making them necessary had no regard for life. Andi's parents may not have known what was going to happen, but they hadn't cared enough to find out, either. They hadn't, from Andi's words, come to visit her. They had simply ignored her existence for a year. And when Andi came back they had ignored her, as they had all her life. And Andi, neglected, abused, used, and unloved, bottled up all the emotions and covered up all the scars that her parents didn't want to see so she could continue to be what they wanted her to be. It was a miracle that she hadn't gone insane.

                She had been through so much, and he was about to put her through more, because she had to learn to shield. It probably wouldn't have been so hard if she hadn't had a year and a half of bad habits to unlearn and so much stress. 

Shielding, for anyone with mental gifts, required the one trying to shield to find a center of calm, and then anchoring the shield firmly in it. Xavier was seriously worried that Andi's tumultuous life was going to make centering and grounding difficult. She didn't have any calm to draw from.

Lost in his musings, he only vaguely heard the sound of a car on his driveway. The chiming of the doorbell downstairs jerked him out of his musings, and he looked up as Scott opened the door of the living room.

Speak of the devil. Xavier's face remained still, although he badly wanted to gasp in surprise. Robert and Chelsea Sanderson walked in, followed by a middle-aged man, slightly overweight, and a tall, thin man that Xavier knew instantly to be a lawyer. "Good afternoon," he said, unsmiling. He was going to have a good long talk with Andi's parents; and he rather suspected that the mysterious third man was the dreaded Dr. Hebron. Good. He had a few…actually, a _lot_…of things he wanted to say to the pseudo-doctor too.

"Good afternoon. We hate to bother you, Headmaster, but my clients wished to get this piece of business over and done quickly." The lawyer spoke first. "I have here a document signed by Alexandra Sanderson's parents giving custody and guardianship of her to this man, David Hebron. Mr. Hebron has also signed the document, and it requires only that we show you the papers before Mr. Hebron collects his new ward and leaves."

Xavier stared in shock at the document. Andi's parents were _giving_ their daughter away to this man? This man, who had tortured, starved, and used Andi, was now going to be her guardian? My god, what were her parents thinking?

"Mr. Sanderson," he said sharply, "What in the name of God are you thinking? You are giving…" something halfway down the page caught his attention, and he peered closely at the document. There, in small print, was the sentence, 'The new guardian hereby promises to tender unto the true parents a portion of the proceeds arising from his research.' "Correction; you're _selling_ your own daughter to Dr. David Hebron? Mr. Sanderson, do you know what this man has done…and will do…to Andi?" He didn't give the man a chance to explain. "He locked your daughter for days on end in a tiny stone cell and fed her once a day on food she couldn't even eat. He strapped her down to a metal bed frame and electrocuted her. Deliberately. Why are you doing this to her? She is your _daughter_!"

"She is not our daughter!" Chelsea Sanderson retorted before Robert could say anything. "Robert had a one-night stand with a cheap two-bit whore. That bitch came to us when the child was born and told us Alexandra was his and if we didn't take the girl she would go to the press and publicly expose Robert's infidelity. So we agreed. We took her in, and raised her as our own."

Xavier had some things he wanted to say about that, too; but he didn't get the chance to say them. Robert broke in. "When we were here you informed us that mutations are passed through the male gene. I am not a mutant, therefore I could not be Alexandra's father. We took Alexandra's hairbrush to a DNA testing facility, and the report came back negative. I am not Alexandra's father. Chelsea and I both discussed it and we both agreed that we should not be held responsible for a child who is not ours.

"David Hebron has been responsible for Alexandra's case over the last year, and he has developed quite an attachment to the child. He requested that instead of dropping her off at an orphanage we allow him to adopt her, as he believes she is a special case, and he wishes to study her more closely. I decided it would be advantageous to us and to the good doctor for him to take over Alexandra's care. And hers, of course. She's been a completely different child since she came back from her stay with him. We're convinced that a longer stay will continue her good behavior." 

"No!" came an anguished cry from the door. Andi's parents, the lawyer, and Dr. Hebron turned, and Xavier winced. Andi stood in the door, her face white with shock. "No. Mother, Father, you can't! You can't send me back!" Beside her, Ororo and Jean were similarly shocked. 

"It's for your own good," Robert said. 

Andi stepped into the room. "No it's not," she screamed at him. "It's never been for my own good. It's always been for _your_ good. Ever since I was little. It was for _your_ good I got left with nannies. I was spanked when I cried because _you_ didn't want to hear me crying. I was sent off to boarding schools because _you_ didn't want me in the way while you did whatever you wanted to do. I learned to play the piano because it was what _you_ wanted, you wanted to have a little trained monkey to perform for your guests. It's never been for _my_ good!"

Andi was almost shouting now; her parents sat frozen in their chairs, staring at her as if they'd never seen her before. Xavier wanted to smile; they were finally hearing their daughter's feelings on the matter, and it was coming as something of a shock.

She continued to talk, her voice rising on each word. "If it was for my own good you would have been there for me when I was young. If it was for my own good you would have sent me to a regular school instead of boarding schools all the time. If it was for my own good I would be able to wear regular clothes instead of these awful uniforms! If it was for my own good you'd have found real help for me! If it was for my own good I wouldn't have been sent off to that horrible place with this horrible man! If it was for my own good you would have visited me at the hospital and seen my cell and you would have taken me out! IF IT WAS FOR MY OWN GOOD I WOULDN"T HAVE THESE SCARS!" Her hands were flying up and down the buttons on her shirt, and she yanked it off, showing her horrified watchers her plain white bra and the terrible scars. Chelsea screamed and covered her eyes with her hand, but Andi stepped over to her mother and grabbed her hands away from her eyes. "LOOK AT ME, MOTHER! Look at the scars Dr. Hebron left on me! He strapped me down and electrocuted me! Was this for my own good, Mother!" Andi started to sob, and Ororo stepped forward quickly, to take the sobbing girl in her arms and pull the blouse closed over the thin body. 

Dr. Hebron hurried to Mrs. Sanderson's side. 'See, it was like I told you it would be, Mrs. Sanderson," he said. "The change to a new school and all the stress with it has been too much for her. She has relapsed into her prior behavior. I assure you, once I have her firmly in hand she will once again become her normal self. Now will you give me permission to take her away?"

Robert Sanderson put an arm around Chelsea and nodded. "Yes, yes, Doctor, do what you have to do. Alexandra is yours."

Dr. Hebron reached into his bag, took out a syringe, and filled it from a bottle in his coat pocket. He tapped it a few times, cleared the air bubbles from the clear fluid in the needle, and advanced on Andi, who was sobbing in Ororo's arms. Jean flashed Xavier a look; he shook his head. She stepped forward and grabbed the man's hand. "Don't, Doctor."

Hebron yanked his wrist out of Jean's grasp. "I'll do what I want, woman. The child is mine now."

Jean stopped him with a telekinetic shield around Ororo and Andi. Ororo hugged the terrified girl closer and glared at him; he glared at her right back. Xavier thought fast. "Mr. Sanderson, Mrs. Sanderson," he said, "Please don't do this. Andi will no longer be a problem for you in a few months anyway; she turns eighteen in October. Once she comes of age, she will no longer be your responsibility. Please reconsider; I'll be glad to keep her here at the school. You won't need to make any other arrangements for her. If you wish, I'll refund the tuition; she can stay here at no cost to you. Please, Mr. Sanderson." 

For a moment the man looked like he was going to waver, then he said, "No. The papers have been signed, she has a new guardian, and he has decided she is not to attend this school. The law is quite clear on this, Mr. Xavier. You cannot hinder her removal from your school without incurring a lawsuit." 

"Go ahead and file the lawsuit," Xavier snapped, losing his temper. "Andi is not leaving my school grounds unless she chooses to. Any action that advocates her forcible removal will be met with a countermeasure from me. By the time you have the red tape sorted out, she will be of age to make her own decisions."

"She will not legally be free to make her own decisions even when she becomes eighteen," Hebron said smoothly, pushing a piece of paper across the table to Xavier. "I have here an affidavit stating that she is mentally unstable. By law she cannot make decisions for herself."

Xavier was horrified. "Is this what you do?" he snapped angrily at Andi's parents. "When your daughter decides she doesn't want to do what you want her to do you have her declared mentally ill and incapable of making her own decisions? What kind of parents are you?"

Robert took out his cell phone. "I am calling the police, Mr. Xavier," he said angrily. "I will not be spoken to in such a manner by a subordinate. I suggest you prepare yourself for a prison stay."

The police came, sooner than Xavier thought they would. The man in charge was one Xavier knew well. "What can I do for you, Mr. Xavier?" he said cordially.

Mr. Sanderson stepped forward. "I want you to arrest this man, officer."

"On what charge?" Sergeant Chester said mildly. "And it's 'sergeant', by the way."

"Whatever you are!" Robert waved a hand. "This man is preventing the removal of my daughter from his school, even though I have an order saying that she is to be handed over into the care of her doctor."

"Really?" Chester remained unruffled. "Let me see the document." Xavier handed it to him, and he read it. When he finally looked up, the lawyer was standing in front of him. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Howard Foster, the Sandersons' personal attorney," the lawyer said. "I drew up, notarized, and witnessed the signing of this document. I assure you, it is legal. The child has emotional problems, you see. She is mentally unstable. Her parents are concerned for the safety of the other students of the school and are therefore insisting that she be removed from here and placed in the care of Dr. David Hebron, who has attended to her care in the past and has had marked success in controlling the child's behavior."

Sergeant Chester turned to Xavier. "Mr. Xavier, everything seems to be in order," he said. "I'm afraid that you will have to allow the child to be taken. Her parents have signed over guardianship of the child to Dr, Hebron; and it is up to Dr. Hebron to decide if the child should stay or leave with him. If you refuse to allow the child to leave the premises I'll be forced to arrest you for violating an order of the court." He turned and looked at Andi, still hidden in Ororo's arms. "However, if you have valid evidence that the child may not indeed be better off with the doctor, then you may file a countermotion with the court tomorrow and the girl can be placed in government protective custody soon afterward."

"Evidence? Andi's body is permanently scarred from the doctor's brutal practices. Is there nothing that can be done now?" 

"I'm afraid not, Mr. Xavier. Please step aside, ma'am," Sergeant Chester gently but firmly pushed Jean aside, and pried Andi's fists open where they were tightly clutching Ororo's shirt. "Come on, now, Alexandra. You have to leave with the doctor." 

Andi screamed as he pulled her away from Ororo. "No! No, please don't make me go, please, he's going to hurt me again, Mother, Father, please don't do this, please don't make me go!" She was screaming and kicking, and it took the combined efforts of Sergeant Chester, his partner, and Robert Sanderson to wrestle her and Ororo apart. Jean threw her arms around Ororo tightly, preventing her from throwing herself after Andi. Tears down both their faces as Andi screamed and cried, begging her parents in broken, pitiful sobs not to do this to her. The three men held her still as Dr. Hebron readied his syringe again, and she wailed in anguish as he plunged the needle in her arm. It was a desperate, anguished sound of despair that Xavier would never forget, and he could barely see the girl slide limply to the floor, unconscious, through the tears that filled his own eyes.


	9. The Hearing

Chapter 9: The Hearing

                Ororo wheeled Xavier into the courtroom. It was fairly empty. The judge sat behind the bench, the court reporter was in the usual place, and over to the left, Dr. Hebron and Andi's parents were sitting. Ororo looked disappointed; she was hoping to see Andi. 

                "So what is the order of business today?" the judge peered over his glasses at Xavier.

                The bailiff stepped over to the judge. "Mr. Xavier is here to petition your Honor for the removal of Mr. David Hebron as the legal guardian of the minor child, Alexandra Lorraine Sanderson."

                The judge hmmm'd as he shuffled through the papers. "I see here that the child's parents, Robert Bruce Sanderson and Chelsea Marie Sanderson, signed over their child into his care. There is no mention of Mr. Xavier here." He peered over his glasses at Xavier. "Please explain why you are here, Mr. Xavier."

                "I run a boarding school for gifted youngsters," Xavier said. "Alexandra was recently enrolled in classes, and she was in fact dropped off at my school a week ago by her parents, who were planning on taking a long overseas trip and did not wish to take their daughter with them. Though it was highly unusual, I agreed to allow the child to remain at school through the greater part of the summer holidays so that her parents could be free to pursue their other activities unhindered. Mrs. Sanderson gave me Alexandra's schedule and insisted that I be sure that she followed it to the letter each day. I have here a copy--" Xavier handed it to Ororo, who handed it to the bailiff, who passed it to the judge. He read it, his eyebrows dancing up and down several times in surprise, and then said to Robert, "You can't honestly expect a child to follow such a strict schedule during the summer vacation, do you?"

                "Yes we do," Robert frowned. "Her doctor, David Hebron, insists that a strict, unvarying routine would be better for her mental health than an unstructured one such as other children may have. You see, Your Honor--"

                Judge Ridenour held up a hand. "There will be time enough later for you to explain your side," he said firmly. "For now, Mr. Xavier, please continue."

                Xavier compressed his lips and carefully didn't look at Robert as he continued. "Alexandra was informed that it would be impossible to follow the imposed schedule, as our staff during the holidays is not paid to wake her up. She seemed quite apprehensive about the change, and when pressed she admitted that her parents had threatened her with confinement in Dr. Hebron's asylum should she fail to live up to their impossible expectations. She was doing her best to follow her parents' schedule when we were awakened one night by her screams. She had a violent nightmare, and in an effort to calm her I asked her to tell me what she had dreamed about.

                "She told us it was not just a dream, it was a memory. She then proceeded to inform us that Dr. Hebron, of whom she was terribly afraid, had incarcerated her in the mentally unstable wing of the asylum he was working at. Alexandra is an empath with a high degree of sensitivity; being trapped in rooms where the other individuals cannot control their emotions is the closest form of mental torture I have ever encountered. And as she had just recently come into possession of her gifts she had not yet learned to control what she was feeling; she did not know how to 'shield' her mind from the onslaught of others' emotions. Her parents consigned her to Dr. Hebron's care for a year, and in that time did not bother to visit her, or check up on her welfare or current condition. She was simply given to Dr. Hebron and forgotten.

                "Dr. Hebron had a specific purpose for suggesting her parents entrust her to his care. He is doing some form of research on mentally ill, unstable, and autistic patients. As these individuals are incapable of reacting to stimuli, Dr. Hebron wanted Alexandra to tell him what the patient was feeling. This required a degree of specialized control that Alexandra did not possess. To force her to develop that control, Dr. Hebron locked her in an isolation chamber for days on end, without food or water or facilities to care for herself. She finally learned how to cope with the intense emotional onslaught; no small feat, considering she had never been trained or shown how to develop any kind of control. She did it by sheer will borne out of desperation and necessity. Dr. Hebron told her that if she could learn to shield then she could help him with his patients and she would be permitted to go home. 

                "That was not the case. Upon finding Alexandra had managed to form rudimentary shields, Dr. Hebron then locked her in rooms with dangerously unstable individuals to force her to concentrate on one specific person's emotions. When he became impatient with the slowness of her progress he commenced using electroshock therapy on her, channeling electricity at much higher levels than is normally used through electrodes on her skin to 'encourage' her to develop the control he wanted her to have. As a result of these sessions with him, Alexandra has permanent burn marks and scars on her body where the electrodes were placed. 

                "She was eventually sent home by a new doctor at the facility when Dr. Hebron was transferred to a different asylum in Boston. His license has been revoked by the American Medical Association and by the American Mental Health Association, for unconscionable practices upon the inmates in Boston and he has been banned from practicing in his chosen field, psychotherapy, permanently. However, my recent research indicates that he has been hired to consult in a private hospital funded by a liberal-minded gentleman out in Colorado. I am concerned that Dr. Hebron might attempt to take Alexandra to Colorado, halt her schooling, and commit the same atrocities on her that he did before."

                The judge heard Xavier out, and then said, "I'd like to hear from Alexandra's parents. Mr. and Mrs. Sanderson, if what has happened to the child is indeed true, then you have a great deal to answer for."

                Chelsea began. "Alexandra was always such a difficult child. She was quiet, moody, depressed, and not at all like the other children at her school. She didn't really seem too much different from them, though, until she turned ten. Then she suddenly started to act up, cause all sorts of trouble at school, and pick fights. My husband and I even canceled our European tour one year because the school called right before we left and told us she was expelled.

                "This went on for five years. She was all right when she came home, but she began to act up in school as soon as we dropped her off. Then one night we were on our way back from visiting another prospective school when a tractor trailer flipped over on top of our car. It was a terrible accident. I had a great gash in my arm that was bleeding badly, and I heard one of the ambulance workers saying something about gangrene and possibly having my arm amputated. It scared me. The emergency personnel got my husband out of the car, and something of his was broken, and he was in great pain. I wanted to stay and wait until I knew Alexandra was all right, but my husband and I needed medical attention right away, and the rescue workers finally convinced me that Alexandra was fine, she had just suffered a scratch on the head. So I relented and allowed them to take us to the hospital.

                "Even with our injuries, the hospital insisted on discharging us early. In a transparent attempt to get more money from us, the hospital kept my daughter in there for a week until she had caused so much trouble they were only too glad to release her. They tried to make me promise that I would engage a trained nurse for her, but I saw through the trick, and I refused.

                "Alexandra malingered in bed after she got home. I finally had enough of her nonsense and told the house staff to not bring her meals upstairs anymore. The girl got out of bed, down the hall and onto the stairs fine, and as I watched her, she turned to me and said, 'Look Mother' and she threw herself down the rest of the steps. She did it deliberately; I was determined that she wouldn't get away with tricking me like that, and instead of taking her to a hospital where she could embarrass us more, I engaged a private doctor for her.

                "Thus thwarted, she cooked up a brilliant scheme. She pretended to fall mentally ill so that we would get another doctor for her. She told us she was a mutant and that her power was empathy, and that she couldn't control it. She threatened to kill me if we didn't get another doctor. At first we didn't believe her; but when Dr. Hebron came to see her he told us she was indeed one of the mutie freaks, and he assured us he would train her. While we were out on our European tour, and staying out on the west coast, he called us every day and apprised us of her condition and progress. He was told not to hurt her, and to ease our fears on that point we were even mailed videotapes so that we could see her happy, playing with other children, learning her lessons. She seemed like a different child when she came back; Dr. Hebron told us if we wished to have her good behavior continued, we would continue following the schedule he had begin for her at the institution. Our housekeep was duly noted of the fact, and we continued to see to it that she kept the schedule. She has had no disturbances since then, and we had no reason to believe that a longer stay with the good doctor would not produce lasting results." 

"We have also just discovered that she is not our daughter." Robert picked up the tale. "I am ashamed to have to confess this, but eighteen years ago I gave in to a moment of weakness and slept with a woman who was not my wife. She came to me some months later holding a child named Alexandra and told me it was mine. She threatened to expose my infidelity to the press if I did not agree to raise the child as my own. So I did. But recently we went to have a DNA test done, and it came back negative. 

"You can imagine what a shock it was to us to find that Alexandra was not our daughter. Most other parents would have dumped such a problematic child off into the local orphanage and wash their hands of her, but considering her fragile emotional state, I could not do that to the little girl who I watched grow up. Yet at the same time we could not be expected to keep her around; she was a disruptive influence on our household and our lives. Dr. Hebron gave us a solution; he suggested that we transfer guardianship of Alexandra to him; he would continue with her therapy while she was so close to him as to make her conversion complete. And all I can say is that neither my wife nor I ever saw any marks of abuse or scars on her body."

"Apparently because you were never around to see it, if there was any," the judge said amiably. When Robert seemed about to protest, he raised a hand. "I've seen enough neglectful parents in my courtroom to write a book about them, so don't say a word. I have considered the petitions, and I must say I'm surprised at the thoroughness with which each has been prepared. There is, however, one large piece of the puzzle missing. Two, actually. Mr. Hebron, before I hear your side of the story, I must ask you; where is the child in question? Where is Alexandra?"

"I did not feel that she was up to the stress of today's hearing, your Honor," the man said smoothly. "It has, after all, only been two days since she found out that she has no parents, and that her biological mother dumped her off on a stranger's door step. Given her mental fragility and her tendency to relapse into destructive behavior, I decided to keep the child at home." 

"I admire your consideration, Mr. Hebron but I am going to have to insist that you produce Alexandra for the court's benefit. As the child is only a few months away from being of age to make her own decisions I would like to hear from her what she would like to do. In the meantime," he frowned, looking down at the papers in front of him, "I find, Mr. Hebron, that what Mr. Xavier says is true. Your license has indeed been revoked; therefore I find it difficult to believe you would continue to practice on her when your continuance is so obviously contraindicated. Therefore, you are ordered to deliver up Alexandra to the Laight Street Children's Shelter until the matter has been settled, one way or another. We will reconvene again at this time tomorrow to settle the question of where she should live until she is of legal age to take charge of herself."

"Your Honor, as you will see from reading the papers, Alexandra has been declared mentally incompetent. Therefore, regardless of her age, she needs to be in the care of an adult."

"Declared incompetent by whom, Mr. Hebron? You? You will excuse me if I laugh, right? It is far too convenient for you, the one who ids to profit by her continued presence in your house to be declared mentally incompetent by you. Mr. Xavier," Judge Ridenour turned to Xavier. "As one of the world's foremost experts on mutants, and psychological manifestations in particular, do you agree that Alexandra Sanderson is incompetent?"

"Absolutely not, Your Honor," Xavier insisted. "Alexandra is as sane as you or I. Her only fault lies in being unable to properly control her empathic gift; a problem which I temporarily remedied by putting a shield around her mind that cannot be taken down by anyone but me. It is, however, only a temporary measure, and I would appreciate it, your Honor, if you would consider allowing her to come to my school rather than consigning her to the emotional pool that a children's shelter is…"

The judge shook his head as he stood. "I'm afraid not, Mr. Xavier. The purpose in removing her from Mr. Hebron's house is to keep him from doing what they call in criminal court, 'contaminating the witness.' The same applies to you as well. She is to have no contact with anyone connected with this case until we reconvene at this time tomorrow. Mr. Hebron, you will see to it that Alexandra is delivered to the shelter in three hours' time, at five o'clock." He turned and left the courtroom, walking briskly.

The Sandersons and Hebron left shortly after, leaving Charles and Ororo sitting in the courtroom. "I hoped that the Judge will decide that Andi belonged with us," Ororo said.

Xavier patted her hand. "The important thing is that Andi is away from Dr. Hebron," he said. 'We will see her tomorrow soon enough. Let's go home."


	10. Rescue

Chapter 10:

                Ororo was sitting in the kitchen staring fixedly at the clock when Remy came in. "Hey, 'Ro," he greeted her. "What's wrong?"

                Ororo sighed. "Dr. Hebron was ordered by the court this morning to deliver Alexandra to the Laight Street Children's Shelter until the matter of her guardianship is decided. She is to be there by five o'clock this afternoon. I wanted to call the shelter and find out when she arrives so I can drop off some of her things." Ororo didn't mention that what she wanted to drop off to Andi was Ali.

                "You're not supposed to have any contact with the witness until de decision," Remy reminded her.

                "I know," Ororo said. "I was going to make sure she was there, then give her things to the head of the shelter. She could pass them to the child." She sprang out of her chair and ran to the phone. Remy looked at the clock. It was five.

                "Hello? My name is Ororo Munroe. I wanted to drop off some things for Alexandra Sanderson…She's not there? Thank you." Ororo hung up the phone, looking disappointed and a little uneasy. "She's not there yet."

                "It's rush hour, 'Ro." Remy pointed out. "It might take them a little longer to get there."

                "Maybe," Ororo said, her hopes rising a little.

                So she called again at six o'clock. No Andi. Seven o'clock: no Andi. The same answer at eight, and then at nine. At which point Xavier called Ororo into his office. "Ororo," he said gently, "I realize that you are worried, but if they are not there by now, he obviously has no intention of surrendering Andi to the shelter. There is no use calling the shelter anymore; please wait until we go to the hearing tomorrow."

                "I am worried, Charles," Ororo paced the carpet in his study nervously. "I am worried what he might be doing to the child; what he might be trying to talk her into saying. I realize he can't assault her mentally; your shield should prevent that; but there are too many things that could be done to her physically to break her spirit. Can we not just take a small team up to Dr. Hebron's estate and steal Andi away?" 

                Xavier shook his head. "Ororo, even if she is not at the shelter he is still compelled to produce her for the hearing tomorrow. She will undoubtedly be there. There is no need to get the X-Men involved. It would look suspicious to the outside world. This is what would be considered a relatively minor dispute; the X-men cannot become involved."

                Ororo still remained uneasy, but she wished Charles a good night and retired to her room. She sat for a long time, sewing a new button onto Ali's face for an eye as she spoke to him softly. "I'm worried about her, Ali," she told him as she tied off a thread and clipped it with scissors. "She was supposed to be at the shelter at five today; she wasn't. She still isn't. What could Dr. Hebron be doing to her? I'm terribly afraid for her." She sighed as she undressed and slid into bed. For the first time in a while, she fell asleep holding the teddy bear. She slept restlessly, tossing and turning as bad dreams plagued her sleep.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                She pushed Charles' wheelchair into the courtroom maybe a bit faster than she ordinarily would, but Xavier didn't complain. He hadn't admitted it, but when Andi hadn't shown up at the shelter he had gotten worried too.

                The Sandersons were there; so was Dr. Hebron. They were clustered together in the far corner of the courtroom, talking so quietly neither Charles nor Ororo could hear what they were saying. There was no sign of Andi.

                Xavier wheeled his chair over to the tight knot of people. "Where is Andi," he said tightly. "Dr. Hebron, where is Alexandra? What are you doing with her?"

                "I would also like to know that," said Judge Ridenour's voice. He'd come in so quietly no one heard him come in. "You were ordered to deliver Alexandra to the children's shelter last night at five o'clock. You did not do so. I am now fining you a thousand dollars for contempt, and if Alexandra is not here in this courtroom in the next three minutes I will raise the fine another five hundred dollars."

                Dr. Hebron stood facing the judge. "I am sorry, your honor," he said. "But when I got home yesterday and told Alexandra the news, she resisted the idea of going to the children's shelter strenuously. I told her she would have to go at five, but when I went up to her room at four thirty I found her window open and she was gone. She did leave a note, however." He held up a sheet of paper. The judge took it, read it, and then passed it to Xavier and Ororo.

                Xavier stared at the paper. It went;

                _To whom it may concern:_

_                I am perfectly happy here in my new home with Dr. Hebron. He has given me everything I need and want, and I wish to stay. I am grateful to my parents for allowing me to live with him and continue my training. I have no wish to return to school, as he has kindly agreed to allow me to attend a regular school. However, if my parents and Mr. Xavier insist I am better off without him, then I shall oblige. I'm running away. I would rather live on the street than with my parents or anywhere that Daddy Hebron isn't with me . Sincerely, Alexandra Sanderson._

                Xavier reread this in silence. "Your Honor," he said finally, "Though we have not been long acquainted with Alexandra, I do not believe this is her writing, nor do I believe the sentiments expressed in this letter."

                "I don't either," the judge said. "Do you have anything else to say?"

                Xavier took a deep breath. "I believe that Alexandra is being held against her will at Dr. Hebron's residence. Though it is highly irregular, I would like to call a favor in with a friend of mine in the police department and arrange to have a search done of Mr. Hebron's premises."

                "Now wait a minute!" All the color drained from David Hebron's face, and he took a step forward. "This is a gross intrusion upon my privacy! Your Honor, I demand my rights! I will not have my home ransacked!"

                "Ordinarily I would agree with you, Mr. Hebron," the judge said, "But in this case I rather think you may indeed be hiding the child; for what purpose, I don't know. Therefore, I will have a search warrant executed for the search and removal of the minor Alexandra Sanderson on the property and premises of Dr. Hebron, to be conducted this afternoon. Mr. Xavier, if you would have your contact in the police department contact my office, they may have the warrant forthwith. We will reconvene here tomorrow morning at ten o'clock to finalize this case. Mr. Hebron," he said warningly to the doctor, "If I find that Mr. Xavier's allegations are true and you are indeed holding the child against her will, you will be spending quite a long time in jail, I can promise you that." He banged his gavel on the desk and left the courtroom without a further word to anyone.

                Xavier sat back, grimly satisfied, as Ororo wheeled his chair out into the hallway.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                "Preston!"

                Dr. Hebron's 'assistant' hurried to the door at the sound of his boss's shout. "Yes, doc?"

                "They're on their way here with a search warrant for Alexandra. They mustn't find her. Help me get her moved."

                They descended the steps to the cellar, and unlocked and opened the heavy metal door on the tiny concrete cell. Andi lay on the floor exactly where Hebron had dropped her when he left the house that morning, nude and still unconscious. To make extra sure, he filled a needle with the same sedative he had been lacing her water with and injected it straight into her arm. She never felt them pick her up and place her on top of a tarp.

                They rolled the tarp up and wrapped rope around it, securing the unresisting girl in the layers and folds of canvas. Together they dragged the bulky package outside, where she was then dumped into the trunk of Dr. Hebron's car. The door was slammed shut, and Hebron handed Preston the keys. "Take the car to the dirt road behind the house and leave it there. Then come back." He looked down at himself, at the filthy stains on his clothes from Alexandra's body and the smears of blood, and swore. "I have to get cleaned up."

                By the time Xavier's lift-equipped van and three police cars pulled up in the street in front of the house, he was dressed in clean clothes and had thrown a pink spread on Preston's bed upstairs to make it look like Alexandra's bed. He had stuffed a mop, bucket, and a bunch of cleaning supplies into the concrete cell, to make it look like it was being used as a storage closet. The electroshock machine he had been using on Andi was in a corner of the 'closet' with a sheet draped over it so that it would appear to be a simple cleaning cart.

                The officers spread out as soon as they got in, though the Sergeant in charge of the search remained in the foyer, talking to Charles while Hebron stood stiffly off to the side, unsmiling. Xavier obtained permission for Ororo to accompany one of the officers upstairs (as long as she didn't touch anything; only the police were allowed to do that), and opened a telepathic link to her so that he could see what she was seeing.

                Ororo looked around the attic. It was dusty, littered with years of forgotten debris, and she was about to walk out when she saw that one sheet looked like it had recently been disturbed. She pulled the sheet off, and swallowed hard.

                Under the sheet was a heavy mahogany chair, four solid legs and a high back, and two solid wood armrests. What disturbed her though was the tape wrapped around those armrests. Only on the bottom, and none on top, and she couldn't see any discernible reason why the chair should have tape on it unless it had been recently used to restrain someone in it. The seat had once been nicely padded with a burgundy leather seat, but the padding looked to have been ripped off, exposing the hard wood of the seat bottom.

                _Charles,_ she thought, but Xavier was already in her mind, looking at the odd chair through her eyes. **This doesn't look good for Andi,** he said to her, and there was a worried undertone to his mindvoice. **Please continue. Don't say anything yet.**

                Ororo left the attic, descending the stairs and entering the room that was supposed to have been Andi's. this room just felt wrong to her as well. The pink spread was obviously meant for a girl, but for a much younger child than a seventeen year old. It contrasted starkly with the dark green pillows, dark green easy chair in the corner, and dark-green wallpaper border. She supposed that maybe there hadn't been time to redecorate, but the dresser top was devoid of all the little things that a girl needed; hairbrush, and, with Andi's long hair, elastics and pins to pull it back. She picked up the hairbrush that was there, and studied the strands caught in its bristles. Andi didn't use a brush like this; it would have tangled and yanked her hair unmercifully. The brush wasn't hers then. She looked in the drawer when the officer had turned his back and instantly realized that decorating delays or not, there was no way this was Andi's room. Andi wouldn't be wearing white men's briefs.

                She imparted that knowledge to Charles as she followed the officers into Dr. Hebron's room. The walls were hung with engraved plaques bearing his name, and a huge mirror dominated the wall above his dresser. The dresser top was crowded with men's cologne, aftershave, and other things; it was a completely ordinary man's room…until she looked up.

                There was a huge mirror fixed to the ceiling above the heavy four-poster bed. The canopy of the bed had been taken down, leaving four bare poles thrust into the air. And Ororo, walking closer, thought she detected the same traces of tape around the posts that she had seen on the chair in the attic.

                She followed the officer downstairs, through the kitchen, living room, and hallway into the dining room. The officers opened all the cupboards as a matter of course, and one shelf held a number of bottles and dispensary items, such as one would expect to find in a drugstore. A packet of syringes, half-empty; bottles of liquid vitamins, and various other fluids, most of which had names she couldn't pronounce. Only one did she recognize; sodium pentathol. She sucked in a breath, replaced the bottle exactly where she'd found it, then followed the officers down to the basement.

                The basement floor was free of dust and dirt; way too clean. Ororo had never seen a \basement like this; the only time she'd seen one this clean was when it was being used, and on a regular basis. Immediately catching her eye was the large cement structure built up against one wall, with a heavy metal door. Her heart leaped, and one of the officers helped her pull the door open, disregarding the order for her not to touch anything.

                The smell hit them first. Ororo found her eyes watering and her nose stinging as she tasted the heavy, acrid fumes of bleach in her nasal cavities and throat. The offocer pulled her back until the smell had dissipated a little, then they looked back inside. 

                It looked inside like a janitor's closet. Buckets, mops, brooms, and what looked like a cleaning cart covered with a sheet sat in it. Ororo shook her head. It was far too dark in there for her to even distinguish the shapes without a flashlight; not even the light from the basement fixture helped. Then, the door was metal. And there was a heavy bolt on it. Who needed a bolt on a cleaning closet? She reached down and ran her fingers over the concrete floor in the corner. Her fingers came away smeared with a thick, smelly substance that was undeniably fecal matter and human liquid waste, all saturated with bleach. The officer sampled the muck with his fingers, too; and wrinkled his nose at the smell. "Ma'am," he started. "It's not my place to say it, but I think this is suspicious. Someone was being held in here."

                Ororo nodded in agreement as she reached down to pick up something hidden in the shadows. It was another dispensary bottle. The officer took it form her and whistled. "That's a powerful narcotic,' he said. "It's actually used as an animal tranquilizer. If they used it on the little girl we're looking for…"

                **I'm fairly certain he did.** Xavier's mindvoice was full of anger. **What did this man do with Alexandra? She hasn't run away. I'm certain of it.**

                The officers reconvened in the living room, overlooking the back yard. The shed had been searched; and they hadn't found anything. Ororo idly looked out the back window as Xavier and the officers were talking. "She must be here somewhere," Xavier said, frustrated, to Sergeant Chester. "The tranquilizer has not been empty long. Mr. Hebron, where is she? Where is Alexandra?" His fists were clenched.

                Ororo's gaze was caught by the sight of someone moving about in the high grass almost obscuring the roadway behind Dr. Hebron's home. A park must lie behind there, she thought. A perfect place for children to play. The figure fought its way out from the grass and began to walk toward the house.

                Her eyes narrowed. Men's briefs…the dark green shirt this man was wearing…the absence of dust on the man's dark pants, which would have been dusty if he had walked out to the field there and was now walking back. Therefore, he must have driven…what had he driven? She cased a gust of wind to blow over the tall grass, and caught a glimpse of a car outlined in the weeds.

                "The car!" she cried out, springing to her feet. "The car! Dr. Hebron drove a car to the courthouse, and it's not here now!" She didn't stop to explain; she caused a howling wind to rise, and it picked up the car and brought it down to rest on the green back lawn of Hebron's house. The police poured out of the house; one of the officers brought a crowbar, and Ororo watched as he pried the trunk open. Then two of the officers lifted out the bulky, tarp-wrapped package squeezed into the trunk and set it on the ground. A quick swipe of an officer's penknife opened the rope, and Ororo cried out in horror and dismay as she fell to her knees beside the still figure.

                Andi lay on the tarp, nude. She was skeletally thin, and the burn scars on her hips and ribs were covered with fresh burns. There were two more burns Ororo hadn't seen before on Andi's breasts. The breasts themselves were mottled with ugly purple and black and green bruises, as though she had been beaten with a belt. When Ororo lifted the girl into her arms she saw the same bruises marked the girl's back, shoulders, buttocks, and thighs, all the way down to the back of her knees. There was a wooden block shoved into Andi's mouth and tied in place with a rag, and her lips were cracked and swollen from lack of moisture. The officer that had escorted Ororo throught the house turned the thin arm upward, and showed everyone the needle tracks in her thin arms. "Andi," she breathed. "Andi…"

                Eyelids fluttered. Andi's brown eyes opened, blinked, then closed. For a moment Ororo thought she had just died, and tears filled her eyes, but the officer peeled back one of Andi's eyelids and said reassuringly, 'She's heavily drugged, and in the heat of that trunk, she's probably dehydrated."

                "Let's get her to a hospital," Sergeant Chester said. As he pulled out his radio, he saw Hebron bolt for the gate leading out to the street. Two officers belatedly realized he was fleeing, and gave chase, but Hebron seemed to have too great a headstart.

                Xavier reached out telepathically and froze Hebron in a mental grip so strong the man almost screamed. Ororo took a quick look at Xavier, and was shocked at the look on his face. Xavier's expression was one of overwhelming anger and fierce joy as he watched Hebron writhe on the ground. He kept the man there until the police officers reached him, and only then did he release Hebron's mind.

                Hebron stumbled to his feet. As the officers dragged him past Xavier, the man stopped. "What kind of monster are you?" he cried hoarsely. "What kind of monster are you that you could torture me like that?"

                "What kind of monster are you, that you could do that to a child?" Xavier shot back. "That is what Andi felt, every day for a year, while locked away in your asylum. That is what you subjected her to. I gave you only what you gave her. How well would you hold up if I forced you to endure that for a year?" Hebron remained silent, and after a moment, the officers pulled him back over to the back of the police car. Xavier watched somberly as the car pulled away and was replaced by an ambulance.


	11. Decision

Chapter 11: Decision

                "Are you the ones waiting for news on the girl?"

                Ororo almost flew out of the chair she had been slumped in for an hour waiting for news. Xavier pushed his own chair up to the tired-looking doctor and said, "How is she?"

                The doctor sighed. "You want the good news or the bad news first?"

                "Bad," Ororo said softly, bracing herself for the worst.

                "She's dehydrated, terribly bruised, malnourished, and suffering from such severe vitamin deficiencies I'm surprised that her bones didn't break during that extensive beating she received. She's also got an exotic cocktail of drugs in her system, more than the dosage one would ordinarily use on an adult twice her age and weight. Animal tranquilizer, sodium pentathol, multiple injections of liquid magnesium, even the date-rape drug Rohypnol, which I assume was used to keep her from fighting them while they…" he sighed. "There's no easy way to say this. Her lower intestines have shut down due to the trauma inflicted on it. She's going to need muscle stimulator shots in order to get them working again."

                "Wait a minute. You're saying…" The doctor nodded, slowly, and Ororo covered her open mouth with her hand as tears filled her eyes.

                Xavier was silent for a long minute. "What's the good news, Doctor?" he asked finally.

                "She wasn't raped. Not in the traditional sense, anyway." The doctor sighed. "Not that its any consolation for the poor girl. If you don't mind, could I ask you a few questions too?"

                "Go ahead," Xavier said gently. 

                The doctor sat down. "I realize you run a boarding school, and you doubtless have a lot of students to supervise, but did anyone take special note of what she ate, when, and how much?"

                Ororo shook her head. 'She has only been with us for a week prior to her…removal…form the school by Dr. Hebron," she said. "And I'm afraid we were all somewhat lazy. It is the summer holidays."

                The doctor shook his head. "Then her parents have a lot to answer for," he said. "Her condition would have begun to be evident at least six months ago. Her activity level would have dropped noticeably; she would have had trouble concentrating; she would have started forgetting things like what she ate for dinner the previous night, the name of the book she'd just read, so on and so forth. Little things like that." He sighed, and consulted the chart in his hand. "Then her clothes would have started not fitting; she would have started throwing up spicy or any heavily-seasoned foods. She probably dropped about twenty pounds in one month. She would have stopped getting her periods. If her parents had been monitoring her condition, she would have looked emaciated by about two months ago. She wouldn't have shown any noticeable symptoms after that, except chronic shortness of breath and an inability to perform any sustained physical activities. Then one day she would simply have collapsed in a coma and died shortly thereafter if the doctor who had her in his care didn't realize she needed calcium and vitamin C shots. Ordinarily I wouldn't have put anything else into this girl's system until she had flushed out the rest of the drugs in her, but this time I made an exception. I had to in order to keep her alive." He hesitated. "The papers and the police officer who came in said she was under the care of Dr. Hebron and an 'assistant'. Who is this man?"

                "Dr. Hebron," and Xavier 's voice became noticeably harder, "is a former psychiatrist who had his license revoked because he was performing experiments using electroshock on autistic patients. The police found out that the assistant's name is Preston Childs."

                The doctor sat up as if he'd been electrocuted. "Preston Childs? Is he in his mid-forties, kind of heavyset, blond hair, brown eyes? Has one gold tooth in the front?"

                Xavier hadn't noticed much about the man, but Ororo nodded. "I do not know about the tooth," she said quietly, "but the rest of his appearance is as you described."

                The doctor said, "Did the police arrest him?" 

                "I do not know," Ororo said. "Why, Doctor?"

                "I have been a pediatrician here for twenty years," the doctor said. "About fifteen years ago this man was convicted of molesting a number of young boys who were my patients. He pled guilty, and was sentenced to a psychiatric facility. He just got out a year ago. They said he was cured." He got up. "Excuse me; I need to call the police and have them arrest Preston Childs. In the meantime," he said, smiling at them sadly, "If you want to go in and see her, you can. I don't expect she's going to wake up, but she might respond to the sympathetic presence. I understand she's an empath." He smiled and vanished.

                Ororo was left with mixed feelings. Xavier said quietly, "I will call someone from the mansion to come and pick me up. Stay here with her, Ororo. I need to make sure Childs is arrested." He wheeled himself off down the hall, taking the cell phone from his jacket pocket as he did so.

                Ororo slipped quietly into Andi's room and opened her purse. She took Ali out and tucked it into the crook of the arm that didn't have an IV in it, and sat down. "Andi," she started, and then stopped. "I don't know what to say. Child, I am sorry. I should never have let them take you away. Charles doesn't say anything, but I know he's sorry too. Can you forgive us?" she reached out and squeezed the unresponsive hand.

                Maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought she felt a weak squeeze back.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                The judge sat down heavily on his chair and rubbed his face wearily. "This case has been a nightmare," he said to Ororo, Charles, and the Sandersons. "I received the news from the police yesterday evening, and spent the whole night tossing and turning. Mr. Xavier, I understand your frustration with the slowness of the system; I wish I had made the decision to remove her as soon as I received your complaint." He sighed again, and his face became stony as he turned to the Sandersons. "I received the motion from your lawyer to have you reinstated as Alexandra's guardians. And I am going to tell you; no. Absolutely not. You signed your daughter, adopted or not, over to this monster. As a result of that, she is now in the hospital with intestinal failure in a drugged stupor."

                "Your Honor, we didn't know he was going to hurt her like that!" Robert Sanderson protested. "We didn't know that Dr. Hebron had a child molester living with him! It shouldn't be held against us!"

                The judge frowned sternly at him. "Even if you didn't know, you should have been able to see the condition she was in. The doctor tells me she's been starved. The medical report says that she was on the verge of complete collapse from malnutrition and starvation. If you were any kind of decent parents you would have seen her emaciated state. The administrators of the boarding school you shoved her in were more observant than you were. I don't see how you have the unmitigated gall to insist that you be reinstated as her guardians. The hospital tells me you haven't been to see her; they called you to see if you would pick up the cost of her hospital stay. You hung up on them, they said. Mr. Xavier here offered to cover the cost."

                He sighed. "I didn't want to funnel the poor child into the foster care system, especially as she really only has a couple of months left to be a child. And I really can't see you, Mr. Xavier, being able to care for her, given your disability--"

                Xavier said tightly, "Your Honor, I fail to see what my disability has to do with being able to care, or not, for Alexandra. I run a boarding school; I can instruct the staff to care for her if there were something that needs to be done that I can't do."

                The judge held up a hand. "I understand, Mr. Xavier. That is why I am entrusting Alexandra's care to a member of your staff directly." Ororo almost gasped as the judge looked directly at her for the fist time. "I had a talk with Sergeant Chester of the NYPD. You were there at every turn for her. According to the Sergeant, they had to pry her out of your arms. You were the one who found her; and the hospital said you stayed with her as long as they would permit you to. I will ask her if she has any objections to you assuming guardianship of her until she turns eighteen, but going on the assumption that she will say she has none, I am granting custody of Alexandra Lorraine Sanderson to Miss Ororo Munroe. Miss Munroe, a word for you; too many people have let this child down. Don't do that to her."

                "I would never--" Ororo started, then bit her lip. "I will not, your Honor."

                Robert Sanderson confronted Xavier and Ororo outside the courtroom. "You can't take my daughter from me!" he hissed. "I'll file an appeal! I'll have your school shut down, your teaching license revoked--"

                Xavier said tightly, "Go ahead and waste your paper, your time, and your money, Mr. Sanderson. There is no law that prohibits me from picking up something you cast off. Don't you understand, Robert? You threw Andi away yourself when you signed the papers giving Andi to Dr. Hebron. You don't get a second chance, Robert. Parenthood isn't something you conveniently set aside because you want to go to Europe. A child isn't a trophy you put up on a shelf and take down when you feel it's convenient for you. Parenthood is being there for the child. Parenthood is listening to the child when they have a problem. Parenthood is making sacrifices for the good of the child. That means if you want to go to Europe, you take her with you. And parenthood is about truly loving and caring for the child. Do you know what disgusts me the most about you and your wife, Mr. Sanderson?" Xavier leaned forward. "It's not the fact that you starved her, although that horrifies me too. Not the fact that you leave her wherever its convenient for you. No. It's the fact that, when Alexandra's real mother brought her to your door and you took the child in, there was an implicit contract that you would love her. And you didn't. Infidelity isn't the sin that it used to be, Robert; it wouldn't have caused quite the stir that you thought it would cause. You could have told her you weren't capable of loving a child. You could have told her that you were too busy to care for Andi. Her mother could have put her up for adoption, and even if no one adopted her, she would have grown up happier in an orphanage, being dirt-poor, than she did growing up in your home rich and unloved. She would have been better off starving in the streets than starving in your home." Xavier stopped talking. He couldn't trust himself to speak without getting angry. Instead he finished, "Don't even file an appeal. No court in the country is going to side with you." Ororo pushed his wheelchair past the stunned Robert and out to the parking lot.

                Xavier sighed as she helped him into the van. "Ororo, other students will be arriving at the school soon. Until Andi learns to erect shields, she's going to be in the same state she was in when we first met her. Would you be upset if I asked you to take a break from teaching so you can take care of her?"

                "Of course not," Ororo said. "What are you thinking?"

                "There's a small house in the suburbs that has belonged to my family for years. I had been renting it out, but the current tenants have moved, and it's now unoccupied. I wonder if you'd consent to living there with Andi for a while; I think an apartment in the city would be too stressful. She's well above her grade level in her studies; she could take a college entrance exam now and pass easily. She can take a break from her studying. And given the charges levied against Dr. Hebron and Mr. Childs, she will probably compelled to testify. A house in the suburbs will afford her more privacy than something in the city will. What do you think?"

                "I think it's a wonderful idea," Ororo said.

                "Then it's settled." Xavier said.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Andi swam slowly up to consciousness. She was lying on something soft and comfortable, and she was warm. _I have got to be dreaming,_ she thought. _Please, please don't let me wake up._

                But she had to wake up, because her body was insisting it needed to relieve itself. She moaned, and her eyelids fluttered. She was so weak that just doing that took an effort; her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, and her vision blurred just past her nose. 

                "Here," said a quiet voice, and a strong arm slid under her neck, helping her sit up so she could take a sip from a cup. Andi took a sip of the fluid, and found it to be sweet, cool fruit juice. Apple. She swallowed hurriedly, tried to drink it all down fast before it was taken away.

                "Slowly, Andi," said the voice. "If you drink too fast you'll get cramps. Slowly. There you go. That's enough for now."

                Andi lay back on the pillow, exhausted, and tried to blink the blurriness out of her vision. Her eyes were too dry from being taped open; she couldn't blink without pain. A gentle hand rested against her forehead, and touched her eyelid. She erupted into movement, struggling weakly to escape the hands, moaning in terror.

                "Andi! Andi, it is all right, child, you are safe. I am trying to put drops in your eyes to lubricate them. Then the blurriness will clear. Can you lie still, Andi?"

                She froze. The hand touched her eyes again, and she whimpered in terror, but something cool touched the corner of her eye, and a second later she felt the dampness slide down her cheek. She blinked just as the next drop hit her eye. "That's it, Andi, blink a few times, and it will feel better," said a different voice, a male one. Andi shrieked and struck out indiscriminately, ignoring the hands that tried to hold her down. "Let me go, please let me go, don't hurt me any more, please don't hurt me," she cried.

                "Andi! Open your eyes!" came the first voice again, and Andi opened them. Her surroundings snapped into focus, and she saw Miss Munroe in front of her, and the other teacher Mr. LeBeau holding her hands, keeping her from hitting Miss Munroe again. Miss Munroe was holding a bloody nose.

                Andi gasped in horror, and tears filled her eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…please, I didn't mean to oh, no…"

                Ororo held a tissue to her nose as she touched Andi's arm gently. "Andi, please, don't blame yourself. I did not mean to scare you. Will you wait until I get myself cleaned up?" Andi nodded, stiff. Mr. LeBeau released her arm, and she relaxed visibly, and nodded. Ororo gave her a reassuring smile and left the room.

                She was back only a short time later, and resumed her seat beside Andi's bed. Andi was still frozen in place. As Ororo sat, she said, in a small voice, "I'm so sorry, I thought--" 

                "Don't worry, child," Ororo said, reaching for a spare pillow and tucking it under the girl's back. "I am not angry."

                Andi hesitated, but she had to ask. "Uhm, if you're here, where's…" she trailed off.

                "In prison, Andi. And so is Preston Childs. They can't hurt you anymore." Ororo touched her arm as Remy brought over another cup of juice. Andi looked like she wanted to take it, but she didn't reach out to Remy. Her eyes had a haunted, terrified look. Ororo took the cup form Remy and tipped her head imperceptibly toward the door. Remy nodded, gave Andi a small wave, and exited.

                She seemed to relax considerably after he was gone. Ororo made a metal note of that; Andi was afraid of men now. Not surprising, after what she had been through, but worrisome. "The judge agreed with Charles that Dr. Hebron wasn't a fit guardian for you. So he--"

                Andi shrank back into the bed, her eyes huge. "He gave me back to Mother and Father."

                "Oh, no, no," Ororo said gently, with a soft smile. "The judge said until you turn eighteen, I'm responsible for you."

                It took a moment for that to sink in. "I…what? I…you're…I'm…" she stopped, and tried again. "You're my mom now?"

                "You do not need to call me mom if you are not comfortable with it," Ororo told her. "If you ask me, I really think you should be your own guardian. However the law says that you need to have someone who can be responsible for you until your birthday, so I was chosen. Unless you object, of course; the judge really wants to hear it from you."

                Andi was crying and laughing at the same time, tears running down her thin face. "Thank you, oh, Miss Munroe, thank you," she whispered as she hugged Ororo tightly.

                "Call me Ororo," said Ororo gently.


	12. Recovering

Chapter 12:

                Ororo took an elevator up to the floor Andi was on. She had to sidle sideways off the elevator to get out carrying the huge bouquet of flowers, and smiled apologetically to the other occupants. The nurse at the desk waved her in without a word; after a couple of days coming here whenever she could, Ororo was acquainted with all the nurses. She walked down the hallway into Andi's room and stopped.

                Andi was trying to fend off a nurse with a syringe. "Not again, please not again," she was begging the nurse. "Please, can you please wait just a little while? Please, I'm still hurting from the last injection…"

                The man holding the syringe frowned. "I'm sorry, miss, but the Doc said you were to have one every three hours until you got your three doses. I know it hurts; but just think, there's only today and tomorrow to get through."

                Ororo set the flowers down on Andi's bedside table and sat down on the bed beside Andi, holding her in her arms. "Tell me what's wrong," she said quietly to the nurse.

                "The Doc prescribed these muscle stimulator shots for her to get her intestines working again," the nurse said. "She got her first one three hours ago; she needs to have the second one now. Then the third one in another three hours."

                "But it hurt," Andi whimpered. "Oh, Ororo, it hurt, I don't want it, I'm afraid of the pain, can you make them wait just a little while longer? Please?"

                Ororo stroked Andi's hair. "I'm afraid not, child, if the drugs are to take effect, I rather expect that they need to be taken at the time the doctor prescribed them. If we put it off, they might prove ineffective, and all the discomfort you've put up with will be for nothing. Would you feel better if I held you while he gave you the injection?" Andi thought for a moment, then nodded. Ororo stroked her hair as the nurse pulled back the sheet and slid the needle into Andi's left hip. Then he left, and Andi lay back.

                "They're lovely flowers," she said to Ororo. "Who are they from?"

                "Charles," she said. "and this," she handed Andi a book, "is from me."

                Andi read the title. "Shakespeare. All of his works? How did you know he was my favorite writer?"

                "I remembered seeing among your things a worn-out copy of 'Twelfth Night', and I decided to get you this, as it seems as though you will be here for some time--" Ororo broke off as Andi tensed. "Andi? What…"

                "The shot," Andi said through gritted teeth. Without another word, she turned onto her side, curled up tightly, and squeezed her eyes shut. Ororo watched her face twist in pain as the muscle stimulant caused her intestines to cramp up. "Oww," she moaned, "Ow, ow, ow,"

                Ororo held her hand until the cramps finally subsided, and Andi turned back over and stared at the ceiling with misty eyes. "Why do I have to pay the price for what others did to me?" she asked no one in particular. "It's not fair."

                Ororo felt tears prick her eyes at the despairing sound of Andi's plea. "Life isn't fair, Andi. I don't know why the Goddess chooses some of us to endure more than others; but She does, and all we can do is bend in the winds She sends and try not to break. It isn't fair; but that is the way life is. And maybe someday you'll find that there was a purpose to everything you've gone through."

                Andi turned to her. "Purpose? What kind of purpose could there be in making me suffer through those beatings, the electroshock, and the violation? It hurt, Ororo, it really hurt, he didn't stop when I begged him, he just kept going, and I was tied over a table and I couldn't get him off me…I tried to kick him, I tried to fight, and Dr. Hebron took his belt and beat my legs until they were numb and I couldn't feel them anymore, and he just kept going…" Ororo hugged her tightly until Andi's sobs finally subsided into sleep.

                She slid off the bed and went out into the hallway. "I'd like to talk to the doctor who is in charge of Andi's care," she said to the nurse.

                In short order, a kindly-looking older woman walked up. "I'm Doctor Daniels," she said. "What can I do for you, Miss Munroe?"

                Ororo said, "Alexandra is terrified of men. Understandable, after what happened to her; and I do understand she has to get over it; but I think having a male nurse give her the injections, and in such an intimate place, is expecting too much of her too soon."

                "A male nurse? I assigned a female nurse to your young ward, Nurse Johnson." Dr. Daniels turned to the attendant at the desk. "Jenny, didn't  Frances Johnson give Alexandra Sanderson her injection?"

                The woman flipped through the chart. "Uh, I have an F. Johnson signing off for the injection, but I think the writing is Fred Johnson's."

                "Too many Johnsons working this wing," Dr. Daniels said irritably, taking the chart and making a notation on it. She handed it back to the attendant. "Please note that only female nurses are to enter and care for Alexandra," she said. "The note is there, on her chart; and I would appreciate it if you would notify your relief." She turned to Ororo. "I am sorry; in the future it will be female nurses. Is there anything else?"

                Ororo said, "The injections--"

                Dr. Daniels nodded. "I thought that was coming. I have never had to have them, thank goodness; but I have seen children who were victims of molestation suffer through them, and they told me what it felt like. One of the nurses here went through the same thing; she told me it was like having contractions." She sighed. "I know it's a lot of discomfort for someone so young; but she needs to have them. However, I could have a dose of local anesthetic mixed with the injection; it won't get rid of the cramps entirely, but it will dull her awareness of them so that they will not be as intense. Will that be sufficient?"

                "That will be fine. Thank you, Doctor."

                Ororo returned to the room, saw Andi was still sleeping, and decided not to waken her. Poor child. She pulled the blanket up over the sleeping girl and dropped a kiss lightly on Andi's forehead before she left.

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Ororo pulled up in front of the house. Jean and Rogue were already there, she noted as she saw the cars parked in the driveway. She parked her convertible in front of the mailbox and went up the front walk.

                She had been doubtful when she had first seen the house. A cozy little rancher, set well back from the street with a large yard and small inground pool, it had not been kept up well by its previous tenants. The carpets were ragged and dirty, there were holes in the walls and dirt on the kitchen floors. Jean, on the other hand, had become cheerfully enthusiastic, and she and Charles had both promised Ororo that the house would be ready to be lived in as soon as Andi came back from the hospital.

                She was surprised at the difference in the house. Rubbish had been cleared out of the large fireplace in the family room, making it ready for use; in the kitchen, she saw Scott and Remy measuring and cutting (with the help of tightly-focused optic beams) adhesive floor tile in a bright, pale-gray pattern for the kitchen floor. The large patio had new walls built around it, and large windows to let in plenty of light. One wall had been left solid, and Rogue was busy hanging mirrors on the wall, fitting them closely together. Ororo spied a long wooden ballet barre sitting off to the side, in sections.

                She wandered back through the kitchens, where Scott and Remy were now arguing about whether the last tile placed was actually positioned right; and out into the hall that started between the kitchen and the family room. It had been re-carpeted with a plush powder-blue carpet. The bathroom, when she peeked in, was done. White tile was set in the shower with pale blue shower curtains, towels, mat, and décor completing the ensemble.

                There was a small room just across the bathroom, barely more than a small closet. When Ororo looked in she saw a desk along one wall, shelves of books along the other (mostly hers; but Andi could add her own books later.) Hank was in the process of trying to hook the computer up ("Bobby! Not there, _there!_") with Bobby's help. She smiled.

                The third bedroom was done in blond woods and deep jeweltones; there was a deep amethyst carpet and a deep rose carpet. Ororo knew instinctively that Andi would like the room; and wondered how her friends knew. Her question was answered by the sight of the shopping bags still full of the new, unworn clothes Andi and Ororo had bought. Most of the clothes had been in blue, green, violet, and mauve colors. Ororo smiled to herself, then continued on to the two master bedrooms. One of them, she saw immediately, was hers. Her own bed was here; amber spread, pillows, and curtains; the floor was carpeted in earth-brown and  other warm colors that reminded her of the grasslands of her native Africa. She smiled to herself. Her friends knew her.

                She went into the last bedroom, and was surprised to see almost everything white; bed, furniture, and everything else was in ice white or ice blue. She stared in some astonishment as the figure hanging curtains by the window turned, and she saw Emma Frost, the Headmistress of Xavier's now-closed Massachusetts Academy. "Emma!" she said, "What in the Goddess's name are you doing here?"

                "Charles called me," said the blond woman, smiling at Ororo's surprise. "He said he had a student who need raining in learning to handle her empathy, and also that she might benefit from having a female instructress. He did not tell me why; I assume that he wants the girl to tell me herself. So I came, and he told me to fit out a bedroom here, since I might be staying for some time."

                Ororo reflected on that. It would be of advantage to have a telepath here. Charles had already said he was going to take down the shield around Andi's mind as soon as she was settled in the house; Andi would need to have someone here who could shield her until she learned to shield herself. Still…"Was it necessary to call you all the way out here? Could not Jean have come?" As soon as she said it, she realized that Jean couldn't.

                Emma was shaking her head. "No. Jean will be taking over your duties as dorm mistress for the girls' wing back at the school until you return. I understand, Ororo; we haven't really gotten to know each other, but Charles decided I should be here for the girl; and I think he had the right idea. So here I am."

                Jean popped her head out of the small half-bathroom in the corner. "Okay, I think we're done," she said. "How do you like everything?"

                "It is all wonderful," she said. "I'm sure Andi will like her room."

                "I stuffed the suitcase with all her other clothes in it under the bed. If she wants those horrid uniforms her parents bought her, they're there. I don't think it likely, but she should have all her stuff."

                "So when yah bringin' her here?" Rogue popped into the room where the three women were standing. "I can't wait tah see how she likes her dance studio."

                Ororo smiled. "I saw it. It was admirably done. I think she will be pleased."

                "Good." Rogue grinned. "And there's gonna be a small piano in the fam'ly room, Charles says. She really loves music; maybe she'll enjoy it more if she ain't compelled ta practice all the time." Rogue sniffed disdainfully, and left the room.

                "I hope she will be happy here," Ororo said quietly as Emma left to inspect the studio.

                "She has you," Jean said quietly, looking into her best friend's eyes. "She finally has someone who respects her and cares about her. And loves her. Because you do, don't you?"

                Ororo smiled lightly. "Reading my mind again, Jean?" she said.

                "I don't need to," Jean said. "It's written all over you. You care more about her than her parents ever did; look, you even gave her Ali. She needs that, 'Ro. She needs to feel loved, she needs to feel like she's cared about, wanted, needed, valued. She needs someone to love, too. She has a lot of feeling in her, 'Ro. It shows in her music. Did you know she writes music?"

                Ororo looked at Jean. "I did not," she said. "How did you find out?"

                "When we were packing up her things I found some sheets of music she had written. I can't play, of course, but I went to Charles' piano and picked out some of the notes. She's incredibly talented. I wonder why Fate chose to give such an extraordinary child to such unfeeling parents as the Sandersons. It must have nearly killed her, having to hide what was in her soul to be what her parents wanted her to be. It's not fair. She should have been born to some parents who loved her enough to let her pursue her passions." Jean sighed heavily. "I guess we'll never know, will we?"

                "Someday the Goddess will make it all clear," Ororo said serenely. "Until then, all we can do is bend in Her wind."


	13. A New Beginning

Chapter 13: A New Beginning

                Andi slipped out of the bathroom, fully dressed in a pair of her new jeans and one of the T-shirts she had bought with Ororo. They sagged on her, and she looked distressed at herself in the mirror. Ororo rested a hand gently on her thin shoulders. "Do not worry, child. You will begin to gain a little weight soon. You'll fit into the clothes soon enough."

                Xavier smiled. "Are you ready, Andi?"

                "I don't know," Andi said nervously. "I guess so."

                Ororo turned to look at her. "'You don't know' about what?"

                Andi fiddled nervously with the hem of her T-Shirt. "I don't know if I'm ready to go back to school."

                **You didn't tell her?** Xavier asked Ororo in surprise.

                _No,_ Ororo thought. _I wished it to be a surprise. And…I wasn't sure how to tell her._

**Well, she'll find out soon enough,** Xavier thought.

                Andi didn't realize where she was going, at first, but when she started to look out the window frowning, Ororo figured that she was realizing this wasn't the way to the school. Finally, Andi said in a small voice, "Uh, Ororo? This isn't the way back to the school."

                "It is not, child," she said with a smile. "Because we are not returning to the school. At least not just yet."

                "You're sending me away? To where? Please--" Realization suddenly dawned over her face. "You said 'we'. Does that mean you're coming with me?"

                "Of course, child." Ororo patted her shoulder. "I would not go anywhere without you. You are my daughter now, after all."

                "But what about the school? Don't you teach there?"

                "I can take a sabbatical. Call it a 'maternity leave', of sorts." That got a smile out of Andi.

                "It's so pretty!" she exclaimed as she got out of the car, and Ororo hid a smile. "Are you living here too?"

                "Yes. Go on in and see, child; We'll get your things." Jean pushed Xavier's wheelchair up the walk as Andi ran up to the house. The door opened just as she got there, and she looked up, to see a tall, imposing woman with platinum-blond hair standing there. She stopped, suddenly fearful and intimidated, unsure of herself, enthusiasm gone.

                Xavier saw the sudden tension in her shoulders, and decided to break he ice. "Emma," he said, greeting the woman warmly, "It's lovely to see you. Have you decided to stay?"

                Emma nodded, and Xavier turned to Andi. "Andi, this is Emma Frost, one of our teachers. She is going to help you learn to shield and control your powers."

                "You're not going to do it?" Xavier wasn't sure if that was relief or uncertainty in her eyes. Probably both, he decided. Uncertainty because Emma was a new stranger she was going to have to deal with; and relief that it wasn't going to be him. He sighed internally.

                Ororo had told him that Andi was terrified of men; he had seen it for himself when he rolled his chair into the girl's hospital room and watched her body tense. She had spoken as few words to him as she could get by with and withdrawn into herself. It wasn't surprising, considering the torment that the males around her had put her through; her father, Dr. Hebron, and his perverted assistant. Xavier himself had felt like cringing when Ororo had told him about Andi's violation; being tied down and beaten into submission wasn't something he even wanted to think about anyone enduring, much less this girl. Andi had seen too much pain in her short life; he didn't want to see her experience any more.

                "No, I have responsibilities as Headmaster that won't wait, as Ororo's can," he said gently. "Emma has been a friend of mine for quite some time; she has my complete confidence."

                Andi raised her eyes from the floor to Emma's face, then looked back down quickly, shy and uncertain. Emma gave a friendly smile and moved aside, gesturing into the house. "Come on in, Andi. Your room is on the left; you shouldn't have problems finding it. I'm going to help 'Ro with your things." She walked out toward the car, and Andi disappeared inside.

                She came back holding the flowers, and said to Xavier, "Charles, I wish you had called me earlier; I'm not sure how comfortable the girl is going to be with me coming in this late in the game. She's mentally fragile enough as it is; having a third around while she'd bonding with Ororo might be awkward."

                Xavier shook his head. "It has to be this way, Emma, I'm sorry. I had fully intended to do it myself, but the trauma Andi experienced made me unwilling to subject her to my presence."

                Emma turned to face him. "You've been very mysterious about this whole thing, Charles. What is wrong with her and why does she need a female instructress?"

                Very quietly, Xavier told her about Andi's parents, about their neglect of her and Dr. Hebron's abuse; about her removal from the mansion and about her torture and violation at the hands of Dr. Hebron and his assistant. By the time he was done, Emma had gone pale. "My God, Charles. How did she survive it? A child molester…I can't imagine…" she shook her head. "I'll take care of her, Charles. She'll never be exploited like that again." She went up the walk, still shaking her head. "I can't believe…poor girl."

                Andi was sprawled out across her bed, sobbing, when they came in. Emma had been right, some part of Ororo's mind noted distantly as she ran to the child's bedside; Andi had known immediately which room was hers. "Andi? Andi, dear child, what's wrong? Do you not like your room? If there is something you dislike, we can change it." She stopped, because Andi was smiling through her tears.

                "I love it, I really do," she said, sniffing back her tears. "My own room, and it's all colors I like! None of that yucky pink stuff like my parents chose for me in my room at home. I'm sorry, it's just…a lock!" she gestured at the door. 

                Ororo looked blankly at the lock in the doorknob. She didn't understand. Emma did. **Think about it, 'Ro,** she said. **Andi can retreat in here and lock the whole world out if she wants to. No one can make her come out if she doesn't want to. It's privacy she's never had.**

                Now Ororo understood. "If you don't want to deal with anything, you don't have to," she said comfortingly. "Just come in here and lock the whole world out. I won't violate your privacy."

                Andi threw her arms around her, clinging to her tightly, and for a moment Ororo felt a surge of hatred for her parents. Privacy was the one thing everyone needed; and Andi never had. She smiled to herself; one of the things she had bought Andi was a diary that had a small lock on it. It lay in the drawer of the small desk, unopened; so Andi could see that no one had opened it and made a copy of the key. Andi would like that.

                "Andi," Xavier said finally, and she drew back, a little startled. "I'm going to take the shield down from around your mind now, Andi. I have to touch you to do it. Will you give me your hand?"

                Andi hesitated for a long moment, then stretched out her hand. Xavier took it, all too aware of how tense the girl's body had just gone, and the way she had nervously pulled down the long sleeve of her shirt to hide the fading rope burns and handcuff marks around her thin wrist. He stayed out of the deeper levels of her mind, touching her mind only as much as he needed to in order to take down the shield. As he did so, emotions flooded her mind, and he sensed her mental cry of despair as they battered at her mind.

                Another mind suddenly entered the meld, projecting calm and control. Emma. She moved confidently through Andi's mind, soothing the panic that had started to well up in the child, and gently erected walls and barriers that she alone could key. Then she smoothed the ripples and left Andi's mind, Charles with her, leaving a tranquil lake sealed behind an unshakable barrier.

                She stared, astonished, at Emma, then summoned a watery smile. "Thank you," she said. Xavier felt a little germ of trust beginning to form for Emma, and he decided to retreat quickly, satisfied that his choice had been the correct one.

                Andi turned to Ororo as Emma and Jean walked out to the van with Charles. "Ororo?" she asked timidly.

                "Yes, Andi?"

                Andi hesitated. Ororo waited patiently. Finally the girl stammered, "Y-y-you said that I could call you whatever I wanted to call you. Ororo doesn't sound right, somehow. Will…will you mind terribly if I called you….Mom?"

                "Oh, child." Ororo regarded Andi with a tender smile. "I would be honored if you would."

                Andi smiled, a grin that wrinkled the corners of her eyes, showed off the dimple in her cheek, and lit up her face. "Thanks…Mom."

*                                                              *                                                              *

                Okay, that's it for the first book, then.

                Wow. You know, when I first got the idea for this book and I started writing it, I didn't tell any of my regular readers (of which there seem to be many) that I was going to start writing it. Firstly, because I didn't think anyone was going to be interested in it; and secondly, because I didn't even think it was good. I don't know how my books are going to turn out, you see; I just type into my computer whatever comes into my head. Somehow, it all comes out okay, which is even more surprising. So this started out as an impulsive write; and I figured impulsive writes were no good.

                I was wrong on both counts.

                The majority of the people reading this seemed to genuinely like it, which surprised me no end. And I got more reviews for this than I'd gotten for my other trilogy currently in progress, the 'Forced Mutations' Trilogy (yes, there's going to be another one in that series; I rarely do one-shots. Everything is usually two-fers or trilogies). Seems like there's a lot of Ororo fans out there.

                Thanks to everyone who reviewed; I added some new names to my reviewer list, (and I noticed some new people added me to their fave authors list; thank you!) I really look forward to reviews. They have given me some ideas for the next book, the first chapter of which you'll probably see go up tomorrow. Andi's parents aren't done with her yet, because she has something they want very badly: a trust fund. Andi's biological father is going to appear and disappear; he's not going to interfere much with the happy little family of Ororo and her daughter. There's going to be a trial, in which some things Dr. Hebron thinks Andi has forgotten will come swimming back up. 

                Andi will get her empathy under control, but it's going to be a long, hard road, both for her and for Emma and Ororo. Emma is going to get a wakeup call as to what kinds of abuse can be heaped on a child; her personal interest in Andi is going to help Andi survive the recollections brought up during the trial; and finally, a certain charming Cajun is going to help Andi get over her fear of men.

                I do have to say one last thing to a reviewer named Lamarquise;

                People are capable of doing the most shocking things to a child. What happened to Andi is terrible; but not outside the realm of possibility. You probably have loving parents; you can't imagine parents being anything other than loving and receptive. 

                But they can. During any given year you could probably find upwards of a dozen sensational stories of children being abused. Babies get thrown in dumpsters. Little girls and boys are raped, strangled, maimed, and killed at an appallingly shocking rate every year. Parents beat their children to death. I read an article about a little boy, eight months old, whose father beat him to death with a belt because the child wouldn't stop crying. There are tons of child molesters in prison because they've raped, sodomised, beaten, starved, maimed, tortured and killed children, either their own or someone else's. The law doesn't condone it; but the law isn't flawless. It's a creation of man; and man, being a faulty creature, will build faulty systems. We keep it in place because a faulty system that catches most of the worst cases is better than one that catches none at all. Andi is one of the lucky few; Xavier had the guts to call out her parents and the psychiatrist and bring them forward to account for what they'd done, and to push for Andi being placed in a better environment, a better home, than what she had.

                I hope everyone reading this will, if faced with the same situation, make the same decision and bring forth the ones responsible for atrocities committed. It might be difficult; but if you're proven right, you could save a life. And that makes any effort worth it.

                See you all for the next book!

Sincerely, 

Jaenelle


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